Used Cooking Oil Fuels Whole Foods' Commissary

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August 30, 2012

Recycled waste cooking oil from its nearby facilities and stores is now powering Whole Foods Market North Atlantic kitchen facility.

Located in Everett, Mass., the kitchen facility supplies prepared foods and other products to 62 Whole Foods Market stores in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey.

At the 70,000 square-foot facility is an on-site generator that yields power using a fuel called LR100, which is 100 percent hyper-refined waste cooking oil collected from the commissary itself, as well as from 28 Whole Foods area stores and a number of Boston-area restaurants and cooking facilities. The waste vegetable oil is refined using a chemical-free process. Lifecycle Renewable’s Inc. owns and operates the on-site generator.

The commissary requires up to 3,000 gallons of LR100 each week to generate enough power to operate the facility 24/7. Operating at a limit of 250 kW, the generator meets the facilities energy needs during standard operation, producing more than 2,000,000 kWh per year. Powering the renewable energy system will divert 156,000 gallons of waste oil annually, with more than 62,000 gallons of that oil coming directly from Whole Foods stores, according to a company statement.

The project was financed by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and the National Grid, Zapotec Energy and the Department of Environmental Protection were also instrumental in bringing the renewable energy project to fruition, according to Whole Foods.

New Deli Packaging
In other Whole Foods news, the Rocky Mountain Region plans to introduce 100 percent recycled paperboard deli boxes with a coating made from 4 percent calcium carbonate, according to Packaging World.

The new coating replaces 100 percent polyethylene with a new blend of polyethylene and calcium carbonate, which reduces the plastic content.

Smart Planet Technologies’ clear EarthCoating is an “in-the-meantime solution” that will reduce Whole Foods’ use of polyethylene while suppliers work to develop a coating that can be certified compostable, Jim McConnell, store supplies and services specialist for the region, told Packaging World.

“What I really want is a compostable coating that can be third party-certified as such and third party-certified as non-GMO,” McConnell said. “It would be a real game changer in the industry.”

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