BioHiTech Global, Inc. (BHTG)
1400
lbs
BioHiTech's Resolution Series Digesters are capable of processing up to 1,400 lbs of food waste per day
11
Million Dollars
is the amount of purchase orders for BioHiTech's digesters from Carnival Corporation
50000
Tons Per Year
BioHiTech's resource recovery facility produces 50,000 tons per year of Engineered Solid Recovered Fuel
The Path to Drawdown: Methane Capture
While carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that’s often talked about, methane has 34x the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide over the course of a century. And the biggest source of methane are landfills, accounting for 12% of the world’s total methane emissions.
Methane is generated by the organic matter in landfills like food scraps, yard trimmings, junk wood, and wastepaper. Their decomposition produces biogas, a roughly equal mix of carbon dioxide, methane, and small amounts of other gases.
As diets change, waste is reduced, and recycling and composting grow, we’re hopeful that landfill waste as a whole will decline. But for now, as the modern way of life continues and organic matter in landfills continues to decompose, landfills and landfill methane emissions keep growing.
The way to manage this is landfill methane capture - the process of capturing methane generated from anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste in landfills and incinerating the captured biogas to generate electricity. This solution has double benefits: it captures methane from landfills, and it replaces conventional electricity-generating technologies like coal, oil, and natural gas power plants.
Currently, enough methane is captured to generate 33.1 TWh of electricity, or 0.13% of total electricity generated worldwide. In the best-case scenario for the year 2050, landfills wouldn’t exist, and integration and waste feedstock availability would mean a net greenhouse gas sequestration, rather than emission. In a less ideal scenario, 70% of the world’s landfills will have adopted methane capture, and they help reduce 2.2 gigatons of CO2e between 2020 and 2050
About
BioHiTech Global, Inc. (stock ticker: BHTG) provides technological, biological, and mechanical engineering solutions of organic and municipal waste worldwide. Their suite of technologies includes on-site biological processing equipment for food waste, patented processing facilities for the conversion of municipal solid waste into renewable fuel, and proprietary real-time data analytics tools to reduce food waste generation. BioHiTech Global is headquartered in Chestnut Ridge, New York.
BHTG's Role in Drawdown
BioHiTech sells biodigesters that enable schools, hospitals, and grocery stores to turn organic waste into fertilizer & fuel instead of going to rot in landfills.
The company also markets Revolution Series Digesters, an aerobic digestion technology solution for the disposal of food waste at the point of generation, and High Efficiency Biological Treatment Resource Recovery Technology to process waste at the municipal or enterprise level. In addition, they offer BioHiTech Cloud and Cirrus mobile applications for digester customers.
BHTG: What We Like
We'll update this section once BioHiTech makes sustainability information available.
BHTG: What We Want to See Improve
Disclose Sustainability Metrics
We're excited about BioHiTech's products and business model, but we'd like to know more about their own carbon and environmental footprint. As of now, they make no sustainability information available on their website or in their reports. We want to see them publish an annual sustainability report that includes the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, sources of energy use, and amount of waste generated.
Set Clear Goals
Once these sustainability metrics are published, BioHiTech should move on to setting clear goals for reducing their footprint. How will they reduce their GHG emissions to be in line with the global commitment to stay under 1.5°C of warming? By when? These things should be clearly spelled out.
Enhance Supplier Transparency
BioHiTech states (p. 10) that their digesters are manufactured in the United States, but doesn't give much more information beyond that. We need to know who their suppliers and partners are and where they're located so that we can assess the carbon and environmental footprint of BioHiTech's overall supply chain.
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