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Jack Barnwell/News-Miner
Bo Weaver, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank facility manager, grabs a handful of organic compost processed by the food bank’s new biodigester, a large-scale food composter, on Wednesday. The machine composts waste food over 24 hours by heating it to 160 degrees, breaks down the organic material and spits it out as fertilizer.
Jack Barnwell/News-Miner
Fairbanks Community Food Bank Community Development Director Sam Kirstein, right, and Hollis Hall, the board treasurer, talk about the food bank’s new biodigester, or bio-compost maker, during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 24, 2025.
From left, Fairbanks Community Food Bank Board President Gene Therriault, Community Development Director Samantha Kirstein, Treasurer Hollis Hall and CEO Anne Weaver celebrate the ribbon cutting of a compost machine called the biodigester at the food bank on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
Jack Barnwell/News-Miner
Bo Weaver, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank facility manager, explains the operations of the food bank’s new biodigester, a large-scale food composter.
Jack Barnwell/News-Miner
Bo Weaver, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank facility manager, grabs a handful of organic compost processed by the food bank’s new biodigester, a large-scale food composter, on Wednesday. The machine composts waste food over 24 hours by heating it to 160 degrees, breaks down the organic material and spits it out as fertilizer.
Jack Barnwell/News-Miner
Fairbanks Community Food Bank Community Development Director Sam Kirstein, right, and Hollis Hall, the board treasurer, talk about the food bank’s new biodigester, or bio-compost maker, during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 24, 2025.
Courtesy of Kaitlin Wilson/Fairbanks North Star Borough
Fairbanks Community Food Bank staff and board members cut the ribbon on a biodigester at the food bank.
From left, Fairbanks Community Food Bank Board President Gene Therriault, Community Development Director Samantha Kirstein, Treasurer Hollis Hall and CEO Anne Weaver celebrate the ribbon cutting of a compost machine called the biodigester at the food bank on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
Feeding families in Fairbanks just got a high-tech twist — and it doesn’t end at the dinner table.
Thanks to a new Irish-built biodigester, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank is now turning spoiled produce into power-packed fertilizer and closing the loop on waste with a local solution. The food bank cut the ribbon on the new compost machine Wednesday evening.
The green-and-silver biodigester, nicknamed “Ferm” by food bank staff, converts food waste into fertilizer. After produce waste is loaded in and heated to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, microbes process the material and produce dry organic matter within 24 hours.
Anne Weaver, food bank CEO, said that part of the food bank’s mission is to keep food waste out of the landfill.
“The biodigester allows us to take the food that’s not consumable and turn it into biofertilizer that we can then give back to the farmers and they can grow more,” Weaver said.
According to Samantha Kirstein, the food bank’s community development director, this is the first Harp Renewables machine of its kind in Alaska. Built in Ireland, the unit arrived in Fairbanks earlier this month.
For Weaver, the machine is a way to reduce waste and give back to the people who support the food bank.
“We want to be the best stewards we can of the gifts given to us. We already have really low waste. This allows us to make it lower,” she said. “It also allows us to support the very people who support us by giving them rich fertilizer to feed their own gardens.”
The biodigester is expected to produce about 30 pounds of organic material for every 100 pounds of food waste. It can process up to 600 pounds at a time, said Bo Weaver, the food bank’s facility and safety manager.
“The prospect of being able to use it to grow more food is very exciting. The side benefit of that is it helps keep the food out of the landfill,” he said. He added that it also contributes to food security as residents use the compost to grow their own food.
Bo Weaver likened the machine’s microbes to those used in sourdough starter.
“With that 160-degree temperature, that’s when they like to feast,” he said.
Staff are still fine-tuning the timing, temperature, and moisture content between feedings. The target humidity from the produce waste is around 70%.
Five Lions Clubs in the Fairbanks area teamed up to raise $120,000 through Lotto Alaska to purchase the machine. The clubs included the Fairbanks Host Lions, North Pole Lions, Offroad Lions, Goldstream Lions and the Fairbanks Motorcycle Racing Lions. The clubs, along with a grant from the Fairbanks North Star Borough, also covered shipping and installation costs.
“It took a community to make this happen,” Kirstein said Wednesday.
Food bank board treasurer and Fairbanks Host Lions member Hollis Hall said the Lions are focused on community development and were eager to support the food bank. He praised the food bank board as “very proactive and very forward-looking.”
The borough Health and Social Services Division provided a $25,000 matching grant earlier this year to support the project.
James Menaker, the borough’s health and social services administrator, called the biodigester “innovative” and “a response to a pressing and felt need.”
“It’s a really wise and efficient use of funding,” he said.
Contact Haley Lehman at 907-459-7575 or by email at hlehman@newsminer.com.
