Since 2019, vibrantly painted shipping containers have been popping up around Pittsburgh outside office buildings, hospitals and community buildings. Inside these reused containers are Zero Emission Upcycling Systems (ZEUS), Ecotone Renewables’ patented system that breaks down food waste through anaerobic digestion, turning it into a liquid fertilizer and renewable energy.
Food waste is responsible for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A study by the University of Pennsylvania found that if all food waste in the U.S. were diverted to alternatives like composting and anaerobic digestion instead of landfilling, it could avoid nearly 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year.
Ecotone Renewables started out as a group of students from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Michigan building a small-scale aquaponics system. This sparked an interest in food waste solutions, which evolved into on-site anaerobic digesters.