New machine helps Rider divert waste, contributes to carbon neutral goal

A machine that can divert as many as 500 pounds of food waste from going to landfills per day was recently installed in Rider’s Daly Dining Hall. 

Called a SEED food waste digester, the machine is part of the University's overall sustainability efforts and contributes to its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The University has reduced its emissions by about 40% since 2006 and is on pace to meet its goal, says Melissa Greenberg, Rider’s director of sustainability.

The new digester, which was manufactured in the United States by BioHitech, replaces a previous model that was originally installed in 2014. The machine transforms food waste into greywater, the water that is no longer potable but remains safe to dispose of without additional treatment even after it has been used for activities such as washing dishes or laundering clothes. Unlike food waste, which is typically picked up and transported to a landfill, greywater can be discarded safely via the municipal sewage system.

Another anticipated benefit of the digester includes a feature that may lower Rider's overall food waste. “This new digester has data collection capability,” says Melissa Greenberg, Rider’s director of sustainability, who played a vital part in the machine's installation and all of the University's green efforts since 2008.

Greenberg hopes that the collection and analysis of such data can help Rider be more efficient in planning how much food to prepare, with the goal of ultimately throwing away as little as possible. The Rider Dining management team is provided a daily report from the BioHitech cloud with the exact weight of digested food from the previous day.

“This is a great example of a social impact,” says Greenberg. “We are eliminating food from a landfill and using a tool to not only dispose of it in a positive way, but also a tool that can provide us with data to improve our day-to-day food operations.” 

Rider University is regularly recognized for its sustainability efforts. The Princeton Review has named it one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges for 11 straight years. Initiatives are guided by a University energy master plan that established the vision for the strategic consumption and reduction of campus energy. The state of New Jersey has recognized Rider's efforts to promote its electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. 

“It’s important for Rider to maintain its status as one of the greenest universities across the country," Greenberg says, "and I think students can be proud when attending a University that has goals for lowering its environmental footprint.”