It happens to us all, almost without thought. You peruse the produce section of your local grocery store and find yourself poring over the tomatoes. Within a couple doubtful touches, you decide on the perfect pairing for your “B” and “L.”

But what about the ones that didn’t make the cut? What happens to them? If they are like the many other tons of second-string produce, they will find themselves in a landfill, rotting in plastic packaging and releasing methane into the atmosphere.

According to Ryan Begin, CEO of Feed Resource Recovery in Boston, the U.S. waste-disposal industry dumps 66 billion pounds of food in landfills each year.

Begin, a native of Sabattus and an Oak Hill High School Class of 1997 graduate, is on a mission to turn waste into a benefit, even a commodity.

With diminishing landfill area and exploding costs of dumping in most regions of the country — an average $91 per ton in Maine — the time and market seemed right for a system that can turn the cost of food waste into a surplus.

Feed Resource Recovery, established in 2007 by two businessmen and Begin, who is an engineer, began by approaching Hannaford with a plan to take their composting operation to the next level.

Based on a prototype unit built in Sabattus at Begin’s uncle’s shop, Sunco Water Pumps and Well Drilling, the 8- by 10- by 20-foot unit proved the waste-to-energy idea was feasible.

But after completing the Hannaford unit, Feed’s owners realized the company had to work on a larger scale to remain viable and efficient. They ultimately teamed up with Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, and built a plant last year that dwarfs the original Hannaford unit, accepting waste from about 360 stores in California.

“We worked hard to find the right people within (Kroger) who were not only excited about the environmental benefits, but were able to get comfortable with the technology.”

And there’s plenty of technology.

From mangoes to methane

Amid the array of vats, pipes and compressors at Kroger’s Compton, Calif., waste-to-energy plant is a surprisingly simple concept at work: The system nature uses to convert organic waste to clean energy.

Feed’s website compares the process to naturally occurring sediment in a pond or lake. Begin likes to compare it to a human body, where food is biologically converted into energy.

Basically, food is brought in and put through a grinding process, removing packaging materials, such as plastic and glass.

“We don’t expect the supermarket to open up the rotten bag of lettuce,” Begin said, adding that some products, such as pickles, arrive in the glass jar they were packed in.

Next, the slurry of organic material is placed in a sealed vat where micro-organisms break down the waste, producing methane, which bubbles to the top, is captured and converted into electricity and process steam.

Wastewater at the Kroger plant is provided by an adjoining creamery owned by the supermarket.

Since Feed’s system is airtight, there are no offensive odors associated with either the plant or its process.

“This is incredibly important given the urban industrial location of our facilities,”  Begin said. “We have been operating for more than a year and have not received a single complaint from our neighbors. Our facility is clean, properly managed and, because we have the right technology, nuisance free.”

The methane is used to run boilers and microturbines, where excess energy is sent to the local electrical grid.

Once all the remaining food material has been broken down, it is run through a centrifuge, where the wastewater is removed, clean enough to be sent to the local municipal wastewater treatment plant.

What remains of the solid waste product is now a nutrient-rich fertilizer, Begin said.

Bringing it to the community level

Begin is quick to point out that waste is a relative term for what his plant handles. “Literally, it’s the avocado that sat next to the one you bought, but passed over because it was a little too soft.”

Food sent to the plant is entirely preconsumer, according to Begin, and handled as if it were still fresh, traveling in the same trucks that first brought it to the stores, minimizing fuel consumption and man-hours.

By building relationships with charitable groups such as Feeding America, Begin would like to see as much food go to food banks as possible. With produce, however, much food becomes unusable while awaiting paperwork and transport.

Feed currently runs the California plant for Kroger, which staffs it. According to Begin, the real work of the company goes beyond the architecture and engineering.

Feed trains workers to run the plant, works on plant development and financial data, and provides plant management.

“We optimized the technology to provide better-than-expected financial returns. We have an elaborate remote monitoring and data-analysis process that keeps us and our customers up to speed with plant performance and finances,” Begin said.

With a master’s degree in systems engineering, Begin has taken in stride tasks well outside of his expertise.

“You can’t envision what it takes to start and grow a business until you’re in the middle of it,” he said, likening permits and bureaucracy to eating an elephant: If you try to take it on all at once, it’s overwhelming, but when taken piece by piece you figure it out and work through it.

As for the future of Feed, he and business partner Nick Whitman have plans. “Our core expertise is in integrating our technology with supermarket distribution centers. We expect to grow and eventually deliver centralized systems that can handle food waste from restaurants, hospitals and other commercial sources.”

According to Begin, Maine is the next ideal location to make this happen because of the culture and high disposal costs of food.

Having recently returned from Oregon, Begin said he hopes to have additional projects under contract by the end of this year.

Asked about his long journey from Sabattus to globetrotting CEO, Begin said, “It’s pretty exciting. I’m having a lot of fun.”

dmcintire@sunjournal.com