Cheers to a new and improved composter! Breathe staff members, Patrick Guild and Katie Smet, celebrated the grand opening of Yolo County Landfill’s new anaerobic composter on October 22nd, 2019. Yolo County recently built seven anaerobic composter cells that will treat an annual capacity of 52,000 tons of green and food waste. In a sealed environment, the anaerobic composter uses anaerobic bacteria to decompose organic waste while generating renewable biogas (a type of biofuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste) and producing nutrient-rich compost.

Anaerobic composting is like decomposition of organic waste in a regular landfill with one big difference. The anaerobic composter cells are designed so that the final product can be removed and transformed into compost and the cells can be reused for the next round of organic waste. The decomposition process lasts six months and diverts organic waste from landfills, generates renewable energy, produces high-grade compost, lowers water usage, and decreases capital and operational costs.
Ramin Yazdani, the senior civil engineer behind the project, emphasized that the composter was more about output than storage of the waste. The composter captures 99.8% of methane produced during decomposition and has capacity to take all of Yolo County’s organic waste to transform it into clean energy and compost.
In attendance at the grand opening was the chair of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors Supervisor Don Saylor, Supervisor Oscar Villegas, Supervisor Duane Chamberlain, Supervisor Jim Provenza, Supervisor Gary Sandy, and State Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.

Written by Katie Smet
Edited by Madison Lisle