Located in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood is a vacant brownfield site that until recently had been contaminated for nearly 100 years and was not fit for use. This is the future home of the Green Era Campus: 9 acres of vacant land transformed into a vibrant renewable energy facility and hub for urban agriculture and green jobs. We’ve completed the in-depth process of remediation, revitalization, and restoration—but this is only the beginning.

Food Waste Recycling

We believe in feeding people, not landfills. Green Era provides businesses, organizations and communities an easy and cost-effective alternative to landfilling your organic waste, while also helping to meet zero-waste goals and creating a thriving green community.

Our feedstock partners can include:

• Organic Waste Haulers
• Schools and universities
• Grocery stores
• Hotels
• Food & beverage packaging and distributing businesses
• Government offices and buildings
• Restaurant groups

What We Accept

Green Era accepts for recycling a wide variety of food and beverage waste. This can also include packaging and post-consumer inorganic materials that can be separated in our state-of-the-art depackaging process. Acceptable waste types include:

• Food and beverage wastes in almost any form
• Liquid food and beverage wastewater in tanker trucks
• Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) wastewater from meat processing
• Bulk food waste (produce, bakery waste, meats, etc.) in end dump trailers
Packaged, expired, contaminated, recalled, or off-spec food waste from manufacturers, distributors, and cold storage facilities (canned food, bottled beverages, any food in cardboard boxes, crates, drums, and pallets)
• Post-consumer packaged food waste from grocery stores
• Post-consumer restaurant or other food service establishment food waste
• FSMA Compliant Certified Destruction

Our goal is decreasing food waste and increasing food security. We want edible food to first go to feeding people and animals, but unfortunately some food is inedible and needs to be diverted from landfills and recycled. Green Era supports the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, which views landfills only as a last resort.