Grant will help Riverside divert food waste

Riverside has received a $10 million state grant that it will use to cut greenhouse gases and divert up to 200,000 tons of food waste from local landfills.

The funding from the state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), will help Riverside improve its anaerobic co-digestion project, according to a statement on the city’s website.

That project is at the Riverside Water Quality Control Plant near Jurupa Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard. The grant will expand the facility’s ability to receive food waste that is processed with wastewater sludge, which creates biogas that is converted to renewable natural gas and sold.

The 10-year project will keep food waste from being shipped to the Badlands landfill near Moreno Valley or the Lamb Canyon landfill near Beaumont during the next decade, according to the statement.