OUR PRODUCTs AND SERVICES
Columbia Biogas will provide the Portland region with innovative, end-to-end solutions for processing organic waste streams. From incoming commercial food waste otherwise destined for landfill disposal to ongoing energy production, the facility will operate in compliance with all local and state regulations in an environmentally sound manner.
Waste Disposal and Management
Columbia Biogas is an independent organization that is privately owned and operated. We will accept solid and liquid food waste from approved licensed haulers, as well as commercial businesses and industrial facilities.
The facility will be able to accept a broad range of food waste from multiple types of businesses including restaurants, grocery stores, and industrial food processors. The advanced sorting technology and robust design of the facility will allow for the reliable and efficient separation of contaminants. The facility will also provide a needed recovery solution for difficult to manage liquid waste including fats, oils, and greases.
Columbia Biogas is also extremely cost-effective. Our facility is centrally located within the Portland metropolitan area and within close proximity to a significant number of restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses where the waste is generated and collected, thus lowering hauling costs. Our central location and efficient process allows us to offer tipping fees that are significantly less than current garbage disposal fees. Combining the lower fees along with the ability of haulers to spend the majority of their time collecting waste rather than driving to a distant disposal facility provides a significant economic advantage to haulers collecting food waste.
At Columbia Biogas, it is our mission to support and promote sustainability through our higher and better use waste management solution. We believe that harvesting the energy of recycled materials is the key to a greener, cleaner world.
Our facility will transform food waste commonly delivered to landfills into multiple “green” products which otherwise are lost in the typical disposal process of food waste. The conversion of food waste into renewable energy and other products enables Columbia Biogas to establish green business relationships with many sectors of the Portland metropolitan community.
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Renewable Natural Gas
The Columbia Biogas process will produce biogas that will be upgraded to pipeline quality renewable natural gas (RNG) and distributed using the existing natural gas pipeline network. The RNG can be used to replace natural gas in many applications including: cooking, heating, steam production, electrical generation, vehicular fuel, and as a pipeline gas. All of these options provide us the opportunity to turn organic "waste" into a valuable renewable energy resource in a sustainable manner.
Natural Fertilizer
Additional by-products produced by Columbia Biogas are nutrient-rich organic-based fertilizer products. These products will be used by Oregon’s horticultural, agricultural and landscaping communities enabling a reduction in the use of petroleum-based nitrogen fertilizer and non-renewable soil amendments.
BACK TO TOPDid you know?
The decomposition of food waste in landfills produces methane (CH4) which is 21 times more powerful of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane can stay in the atmosphere for approximately 7 years, trapping the heat and reflecting it back to earth. Infrared radiation from the sun is reflected to the earth by the methane, thereby increasing global warming.
According to the U.S. EPA, landfills are the second-largest human-related source of methane in the U.S., accounting for 23 percent of all methane emissions in 2007. According to Metro, the region produces 247,000 tons per year of food waste and food soiled paper products. Columbia Biogas believes its facility can play an important role in decreasing the carbon footprint associated with the environmentally harmful hauling and disposing of food waste in distant landfills.