Green Era Campus Hosts Historic Ribbon Cutting for Nation's First Anaerobic Digester for Packaged Food Waste

Elected Officials, Sustainability Leaders, and Community Champions Unite on Chicago's South Side to Launch Groundbreaking Facility

CHICAGO, April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 25, 2025, Green Era Campus celebrated the grand opening of the United States' first anaerobic digester designed specifically to process inedible packaged food waste. The ribbon cutting ceremony, held on Chicago's South Side in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, marked a bold step forward in sustainable infrastructure, climate action, and economic revitalization.

The event kicked off with community and media tours of the 9-acre campus, once a long-vacant brownfield, now transformed into a national model of clean energy and circular economy innovation.

The formal program opened with a community welcome by Carlos Nelson, CEO of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, and continued with remarks from local leaders including Norma Sanders, Alderman William Hall, Representative Sonya Harper and Alderman Ronnie Mosley.

Green Era Co-Founders Erika Allen and Jason Feldman delivered opening remarks reflecting on the journey that led to this groundbreaking moment.

"At Green Era, we've built more than a facility - we've built a model for what a truly sustainable future can look like. By turning inedible food waste into renewable energy and nutrient-rich fertilizer, we're supporting everything from local food production to job creation and economic development. It's a closed-loop system that benefits both people and the planet, and we're proud to show that environmental impact and a sustainable business model can go hand in hand. We invite businesses to be part of this solution - partner with us to recycle your food waste and turn today's challenges into tomorrow's opportunities," said Jason Feldman, CEO, Green Era

The program featured a keynote from Governor JB Pritzker who remarked:

"This project, years in the making, is a testament to the positive change that we can produce with local, state, and federal partnerships," said Governor JB Pritzker. "I am grateful for the work that Urban Growers Collective and Green Era have done to provide access to fresh food, minimize food waste, and produce renewable energy right here on the South Side of Chicago. With this campus' focus on serving local communities with fresh food, urban farming opportunities, education, and workforce development, we're investing in the sustainability leaders of tomorrow."

Mayor Brandon Johnson also spoke and shared a vision for a greener, more equitable Chicago. A ceremonial ribbon cutting and live digester demonstration followed, offering a powerful visual of Green Era's mission to transform waste into resources.

Reflections from Representative Michael Crawford, Treasurer Michael Frerichs, Michael Marx of Mariano's, Sean Jones of Argonne National Lab, and Polly Eldringhoff of Peoples Gas rounded out the afternoon, along with a plaque presentation by Kareeshma Ali of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation.

The event concluded with a live food waste drop at the digester and opportunities for additional media interviews and campus tours.

"This project shows how public-private partnerships and community leadership can come together to create sustainable solutions that benefit everyone," said Erika Allen, Co-Founder of Green Era and CEO of Urban Growers Collective.

Green Era's digester will divert thousands of tons of food waste from landfills annually, converting it into renewable energy and nutrient-rich compost. That compost will fuel a soon-to-launch 2-acre vertical farm managed by Urban Growers Collective, which will grow over 26,000 pounds of produce per year to support local food access.

For information on recycling food waste with Green Era contact:
[email protected]

Download Images and Video from the Event here: We'd greatly appreciate it if you could credit "ROQA Productions".

For media inquiries, captions or additional information please contact:
Dana Swinney
Senior Publicist
312-291-1099
[email protected]

About Green Era Campus
Green Era Campus is a first-of-its-kind initiative focused on building sustainable, resilient communities through innovative urban development. Located on Chicago's South Side, the Campus has transformed a long-vacant brownfield into an engine of renewable energy production, local economic growth, and environmental innovation.

By combining cutting-edge technology with deep community engagement, Green Era is creating a scalable national model for 21st-century urban sustainability – where food waste becomes a resource, and infrastructure drives both environmental and economic value.

SOURCE Green Era Campus