NY governor: Long Island plant will turn food waste into clean energy starting in 2016

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a plant that will process food waste into clean energy is coming to eastern Long Island.

The so-called anaerobic digester project is slated for a 62-acre site in Yaphank. It will be operated by American Organic Energy at its compost facility. It's expected to be completed in August 2016.

Cuomo says it will process double the food waste of any existing privately owned food waste digester site in the state.

That's about 120,000 tons of food waste, 30,000 tons of fats, oils and greases, and 10,000 tons of grass clippings from the Long Island region annually.

Cuomo says the decomposed material results in a biogas that can be recovered, treated and used to generate energy in place of traditional fossil fuels.