In the next year, 10,000 tons of Sacramento-area organic waste will be turned into something else by a newly-constructed machine called a biodigester.  

Michele Wong with the waste recycling company Clean World says it has contracted with Atlas Disposal to take in 25 tons of waste per day at the South Area Transfer Station on Fruitridge Road.

Out of that waste will come three types of fertilizer, the natural gas equivalent of a million gallons of diesel fuel, and two million kilowatt hours of electricity, "You're effectively doing the same kind of natural process that composting does, except that you're also capturing the gas and creating energy."

The California Energy Commission has pledged $6 million to help the company expand the biodigester citing its numerous benefits to the environment.  By late next year, the facility is scheduled to take in 40,000 tons of waste each year.  Wong says the biodigester will eliminate about 5,800 tons of greenhouse gases annually.