Cedar Grove Composting has decided that it will not pursue its plans to construct a $20 million anaerobic digester at its Smith Island site in Everett and will instead move forward with smaller scale digester projects.

The Everett digester would have converted food and yard waste into enough energy to provide electricity for 400 homes or fuel for 1,000 vehicles a year.

The company was informed yesterday that the co-lead agencies that conducted the SEPA review of the proposal had withdrawn their determination that with mitigation the project would not require a full environmental impact statement.

“Building renewable energy projects in the Puget Sound is challenging. With the added costs in time and money required for an EIS, the project is no longer financially feasible,” said Steve Banchero, Cedar Grove CEO in a press release statement. “We are disappointed with this decision and we know our disappointment is shared by many who were looking forward to a significant clean energy facility that would further enhance the region’s organic waste recycling efforts.”

Cedar Grove has already expended $2.5 million in permitting costs.

Cedar Grove has not shelved its plans to turn food and yard waste into renewable energy.

It has begun discussions with large institutions in the area that generate organic waste about placing small scale digesters on or near their sites.

There are many benefits of this approach including the ability of the generator to maintain feedstock quality and make direct use of the energy produced.

“Cedar Grove has been a national leader in finding and implementing new technologies for organics recycling,” Banchero said. “We will continue to look for new and better ways of recovering value from materials that don’t belong in a landfill.”