As Americans prepare to enjoy their Thanksgiving feasts, the American Biogas Council (ABC) has released new data highlighting the growth of biogas systems that convert food waste into energy.
On Thanksgiving Day alone, Americans will throw away about 160,000 tonnes of food scraps, representing US$550 million worth of food tossed in a single day, according to the non-profit ReFED.
Each year, American households throw away about 26 million tonnes of food, while food processors, grocers, and restaurants produce an additional 30 million tonnes of food waste.
While prevention remains the best strategy to reduce wasted food, biogas systems help ensure the food that still gets discarded is used productively.
These systems capture the energy from surplus food and other organic material, such as livestock manure and wastewater solids, as they decompose.
Biogas facilities use anaerobic digestion (AD) to recycle waste into energy that can be used to power and heat homes, fuel vehicles, or generate electricity through engines and fuel cells.
Significant increase in food waste conversion
As of November 2025, 304 biogas systems in the country convert food waste into renewable energy, a 19 percent increase over the past five years.
The ABC reports that 118 of these facilities recycle food waste only, handling over 10 million tonnes of pre- and post-consumer inedible scraps each year.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and farm-based biogas systems also recycle some discarded food.
The ABC counts 124 wastewater plants in the United States that combine food waste with wastewater solids (aka sewage sludge) to generate energy, recycling an additional 1.1 million tonnes of wasted food each year.
In addition, 62 farms anaerobically digest food waste in combination with animal manure, putting another 1.7 million tonnes of food scraps to good use.
In total, these facilities recycle 12.8 million tonnes per annum of food scraps and other organic waste into over 35 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of biogas, enough to cover the annual energy use of 283,000 average American households.
The United States still overlooks the enormous value in food processing scraps and inedible food. Biogas facilities can convert this waste into enough home-grown energy to supply the needs of millions of Americans, while creating jobs and catalyzing new, local investments. We hope more municipalities and industrial food processors will choose to invest in biogas systems to recycle their resources locally, said Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of ABC.
Looking into the future, if three-quarters of the discarded food from homes, grocers, restaurants, and food processors were recycled in biogas systems, an estimated 115 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of biogas per annum could be produced, equivalent to the energy needs of nearly one million average American households, ABC highlights.
While considerable potential remains, the biogas sector is expected to continue to expand to transform discarded food into valuable energy, showing a practical way to reduce waste and support home-grown renewable power.
