PurposeEnergy Middlebury Resource Recovery Center

This project includes the construction of a new industrial organic waste treatment center to convert food and beverage residuals and wastewater into renewable energy and cleaned effluent. The facility will consist of an anaerobic digester, a generator to produce renewable electricity from digester biogas, and an associated 2,600-square-foot control building and piping. Central to the project are three 47-foot-tall steel digester tanks and three 33-foot-tall steel flow equalization tanks, hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) scrubbing equipment and methane and thermal energy recovery systems to produce less than 1 MW of electricity for the Vermont grid. Work also includes the installation of new offsite pump stations and force mains to allow certain local food and beverage producers to connect directly to the facility.

When fully operational, the Middlebury Resource Recovery Center will treat approximately 80,000 gallons of food waste and wastewater per day, converting over 90% of the organic content into renewable biogas. It is estimated that this facility will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2,000 tons of CO₂ per year, primarily by the elimination of 278 tanker truck trips each month.

The project also provides an ANR-permitted phosphorus control point to protect nearby Lake Champlain. More than 60 tons per year of phosphorus will be sequestered into solid fertilizer, removing the risk of run-off to the local watershed. The solid fertilizer can be added to compost or directly applied to fields by local farms.

The MRRC will service many Middlebury-based food and beverage producers, including Vermont Cider Company, WhistlePig Distillery, Dubois Dairy and Agri-Mark for Cabot Creamery.