CNN News:食物垃圾 味道财富

According to the United Nations, food waste is defined as food that`s initial safe for people to eat, but it doesn`t get eaten because it`s left to spoil or it`s thrown out. The U.S. government estimates that food waste in America could be as high as 40 percent of the food supply.

根据联合国，食物垃圾的定义是，食物对于人类本来是安全的，但是由于没被吃掉而造成破坏或者被扔掉。美国政府估计，在美国所提供的食物约有高达40%的食物称为了食物垃圾。

But there is a process that ensures that food left to waste doesn`t stay that way.

因此需要一个程序确保剩余的食物不再遭此命运。

REPORTER: Americans send more than 30 million tons of food to the landfill every year. But as the saying goes, "One person`s trash is another`s treasure" -- really smell treasure.

记者：每年，美国人制造约3000万的食物垃圾。正如谚语，一个人的垃圾是另外一个人的财富，但是只是味道财富罢了。

BOB YOST, A1 ORGANICS, VICE PRESIDENT: We`re not dealing with the Bed, Bath and Beyond. These are the smells of nature.

我们不处理卫浴、床上用品等。这些是大自然的气味。

REPORTER: Welcome to Heartland Biogas, a facility in rural Colorado that takes food waste from all over the state and turns it into electricity.

记者：欢迎来到Heartland Biogas，这是科罗拉多乡村设备，它将从各个州的食物垃圾转变成电能。

YOST: The waste comes from grocery stores, from cafeterias, from restaurants, packing houses, meat preparation, dog food or pet food manufacturing facilities, food processors, just about any place that has a food-based waste.

这些食物来自食品杂货店、自助餐厅、餐馆、罐头工厂、肉类加工厂、狗粮店或者宠物食品生产厂、食品加工厂，几乎任何地方都存在粮食浪费。

REPORTER: The process Heartland uses is called anaerobic digestion, and as the name implies, it works just like our human digestive systems, by breaking down food into energy, in this case, electricity.

记者：Heartland的加成程序叫做厌氧消化。就如同它的名字一样，这个过程就像我们人类的消化系统，将食物分解成能源，只不过，在这里被分解成电能。

The food waste that comes into the facility is separated from any packaging, chewed up into a more digestible state, and mixed with bacteria, in one of Heartland`s 1.7 million gallon holding tanks. And while in human digestion, gas is far from being the goal. Gas is exactly what Heartland is after.

将垃圾食物与其包装进行分离，然后将其进入体积约有170万加仑大设备加工为更易消化的状态，然后混入细菌。在人类的消化系统中，气体不是目标。但是在Heartland中，气体就是其所追求的。

Remember the smell from before? It`s methane and it`s a great source of renewable energy.

还记得之前的气味吗?它指的甲烷和另一种可再生能源的先导物。

YOST: We create three things: gas, liquid soil amendment, and solid soil amendment of peat moss like material.The digester is just like your stomach`s bacteria. The bacteria eat the organics and then they create gas. Not unlike what we do.

我们创造了三种物质，气体、液体土壤改良剂、坚实的土壤改良剂如泥炭苔藓等材料。消化池就像胃的细菌。细菌吃有机食品，然后产生气体。