Green Era's food waste processor creates compost and renewable energy in Auburn Gresham

Each day at the Green Era Campus in Auburn Gresham , trucks drive into a cavernous industrial facility to unload withered vegetables, fruit and other inedible food into a giant metal pit. The waste is sifted then funneled to an enormous tank called a biodigester. After a weeks-long process, the system will yield compost for urban farms in Chicago.

The biodigester officially launched this spring and has transformed a previously contaminated South Side lot. It’s likely the Midwest’s first large urban biodigester that only processes food waste, according to Jason Feldman, co-founder of Green Era. The system is unique because it can accept food in packaging such as plastic bags — special equipment separates inorganic material.

The $40 million project is groundbreaking because it captures met