Our Fave Comfort Food Is Powering This Factory

The team at 2 Sisters Food Group in the U.K. are total geniuses, because the company has figured out how to power its factories with mashed potatoes. (Yes, you read that right.) The Guardian is reporting that the company is, “set to flick the switch” on its new potato-powered electricity generator this week. Statements published in the Financial Times state that the potato plant “should produce 3,500 megawatt hours per year of electricity, or enough to power 850 homes". If the technology proves effective, the company will convert up to 10 of its other factory facilities over the next three years. This is part of a larger sustainability initiative launched by Sisters Food Group, which also includes cutting water usage, a 20% carbon footprint reduction company-wide, and elimination its landfill waste by 2017. Increasingly, the issue of food waste is coming into focus as a major issue of our time. It contributes not just to global warming (decaying food creates methane emissions), but also landfill space issues, and is a financial issue, as well. Redirecting food waste to bio-fueled electric generators could be an effective solution to a serious global problem.