Charles Vigliotti is taking advantage of the tons of food waste that America goes through every year. An article about him from The New York Times highlights his efforts the last couple decades and what he is achieving in real time. Not only is this seen as a profitable market to enter for many investors but it’s also helps to ease the biological footprint we have on our planet. By composting and digesting these food scraps, methanol can be created to fuel homes and businesses. More recently Charles has been working on projects to help cities like New York manage their waste. His plan is to bring 1,000 tons of food scraps to plants where he will have it converted to methanol and sell the by products of the remaining scraps. This is eco friendly and can help to solve the shortage of fossil fuels and oil by switching our fuel source altogether. Charles describes that he has ran into troubles getting this business running like the amount of fuel it takes to make this biofuel. However, the thousand tons of scraps can easily be turned into 50 million kilowatt hours of energy. A return of this much energy can help save the planet while also turning profit for those like Charles. Before his ventures in the world of biofuel he had owned waste companies that would bring garbage from cities to plants. His move to create a company that supports biofuel has helped him to receive grants from New York City and environmental agencies. Recently, New York has put a system in place to collect citizens food waste in an effort to help the environment. This has become a big opportunity for Vigliotti’s company. 5 companies partnered to collect that scraps, Vigliotti’s being the second largest and most successful at this matter. I believe that this articles was very interesting and educated me on a market that I didn’t know existed. Lately, more and more people are trying to decrease their footprint in the environment by switching diets, managing food scraps, and composting themselves. These are good steps in the right direction but without the help of companies like Charles Vigliotti’s our impact on the environment would me much greater. All in all, I now have a better understanding of our biological impact and a better sense of the efforts people are making to reverse and halt the damage that’s been done to the earth.
