404 food-waste biogas facilities operate across 48 U.S. states

The United States has 404 operating food-waste biogas facilities across 48 states, including 204 plants that process discarded food alone, according to the American Biogas Council’s (ABC) expanded inventory. The 204 dedicated facilities capture approximately 36 billion cubic feet of biogas annually and represent nearly $3 billion in capital investment.

ABC’s expanded research added projects omitted from the prior inventory, producing a 73% increase over last year’s count. The council attributes that increase to a more complete picture of the food-waste biogas industry.

About 200 of the 404 facilities operate at farms and wastewater treatment plants, where food waste combines with manure or wastewater before anaerobic digestion. Microorganisms break down the organic material and generate biogas. Biogas systems capture the gas to keep it from entering the air, then use it for electricity and heat or process it into renewable natural gas.

Patrick Serfass, ABC executive director, said: “America is literally throwing away enough renewable energy to power millions of homes.” He also said: “The technology to make energy from food waste is already operating, but the potential to turn more of what we routinely discard into a valuable domestic energy resource is enormous.”

What does the inventory show?

ABC’s facilities handle food waste from manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants and other sources. Of the 204 dedicated facilities, 161 process pre-consumer material, primarily wastewater from food processing and beverage manufacturing, while 43 handle retail and consumer waste, including food that spoils, is rejected or remains unsold.

The 43 retail and consumer facilities capture approximately 8.2 billion cubic feet of biogas annually. ABC’s counts therefore place most dedicated facilities on pre-consumer streams, with a smaller group serving retail and consumer waste.

Most facilities use their biogas to generate electricity and heat. ABC identifies 164 food-waste-only plants producing power, heat or both, and another 38 upgrading biogas into renewable natural gas (RNG).

What changed since 2020?

The 42 food-waste facilities that came online since 2020 account for 32% of the sector’s annual biogas production and 45% of its total investment. On average, these newer projects capture nearly twice as much biogas as earlier facilities and cost about three times as much to build.

Seven new food-waste projects came online in 2025, and every one produces renewable natural gas. Together, they added more than twice the biogas capture capacity of any other year since 2020.

ABC describes the projects as getting larger and attracting more investment, while the seven 2025 additions all produce RNG.

How much energy does the discarded food represent?

ABC estimates that the United States discarded about 70 million tons of food in 2024. If the entire volume were processed through anaerobic digestion, it could produce approximately 181 billion cubic feet of additional biogas each year, roughly five times the amount currently captured by dedicated food-waste facilities.

That potential output represents approximately 113 million MMBtu of energy, enough to meet the annual energy needs of approximately 1.5 million U.S. households. The calculation describes recoverable potential, not operating or announced capacity.

What does this change for food-waste generators?

For manufacturers, beverage processors, grocery stores and restaurants, the answer is that anaerobic digestion already operates as an energy-recovery route for food waste. The remaining market question centers on adding dedicated capacity for retail and consumer streams, which reach only 43 of the 204 food-waste-only facilities.

That leaves a large gap between current capture and the full discarded-food volume. The next market milestone is commissioning enough digestion capacity to narrow the gap between 36 billion cubic feet currently captured and 181 billion cubic feet of additional annual potential. ABC’s research sets no regulatory deadline for that buildout. Plant investment and the pace of RNG projects will determine whether the estimate becomes operating output.