Bioenergy Innovation Center to host public events Oct. 22, 29
The Bioenergy Innovation Center invites the community to an open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22, at 28338 Enviro Way, Seaford.
Guests can tour the facility to learn about the center’s industrial composting process and expansion plans. Visitors can bring 5-gallon buckets to take home compost for their gardens.
“We welcome our neighbors and Sussex County residents to our Seaford site. They can learn what we do and how we do it, and see for themselves that we benefit the community and the environment,” said Monica Peterschmidt, director of community engagement.
A Halloween celebration with pumpkin decorating and a trunk-and-treat will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29.
BIC staff will be joined by representatives of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance and Seaford High School Future Farmers of America. Attendees can learn how to keep the watershed clean, hear about how FFA members are involved in the community, and garner tips on composting and gardening. Visitors to the Halloween event may also bring 5-gallon buckets to take home compost.
“We’re looking forward to our Halloween event. We’re planning family fun to celebrate fall,” Peterschmidt said. “Plus, this gives us another way to introduce ourselves and explain what we do.”
The Seaford site was the Perdue poultry waste recycling plant for 20 years. Bioenergy Devco of Maryland purchased the composting operation in November 2019 and plans to expand it. The project is obtaining state permits and has solid support from Sussex County leaders.
The transformation of the BIC will bolster the western Sussex County economy, improve regional water quality and support local family farms.
The BIC will use a technology called anaerobic digestion, a natural process that uses microbes to turn poultry processing waste into clean, renewable natural gas for Chesapeake Utilities customers. A second important byproduct of the AD process is an odorless organic compost that adds nutrients to soil.
Bioenergy Devco and its partners have built 250 similar facilities internationally and operate 140 of them.
To learn more, go to bioenergyic.com.
