Top: The Quantum Organics food waste digester in Southington, Connecticut is part of the infrastructure acquired by Circular Services. (Photo provided to BioCycle in 2017 by then Quantum Biopower).
Quantum Biopower, LLC in Southington, Connecticut was among the first stand-alone merchant food waste anaerobic digesters in the U.S., opening its doors in early 2017. The facility was started by Supreme Forest Products, which manufactures compost, playground fiber and mulch at several locations, including the 60-acre site where the AD plant is located. The digester facility has 40,000 tons/year of processing capacity, and receives commercial and industrial food waste (both packaged and unpackaged), as well as residential food scraps from area jurisdictions. Components of the facility were designed to enable expansion to 80,000 tons/year by installing a second 1,000,000-gallon primary digester tank. Supreme Forest Products operates an adjacent windrow composting facility, processing yard trimmings. In total, the Southington site has 100,000 tons/year of permitted capacity for food waste and 500,000 cubic yards/year for leaves and yard trimmings.
Recently, Quantum Biopower and Supreme Forests Products merged to form Quantum Organics, which then was acquired by Circular Services, a private company that operates more than 20 material recovery facilities across the U.S. In a Feb. 3, 2025 press release, Circular Services noted that the acquisition expands the company’s capabilities into organics recycling. “Circular Services’ new operations in the Northeast provide end-to-end organic waste services: product depackaging and destruction, mobile grinding and chipping, and organics transportation and processing,” notes the press release. Biogas produced by Quantum’s AD facility is used to produce electricity, which is sold to the Town of Southington under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
“We are thrilled to join Circular Services,” said Brian Paganini, Vice President & Managing Director at Quantum Organics. “Being part of Circular Services allows us to scale our vision of turning organic waste into a valuable resource while addressing pressing environmental challenges. Together, we’re not just managing the materials, we’re redefining their potential.”
Save That Stuff, a recycling and organics hauler and materials processor in Boston, was acquired by Casella Waste Systems. Photo courtesy of Save That Stuff
Elsewhere in New England, Casella Waste Systems acquired Save That Stuff, a recycling and organics hauler that also operates a materials recovery facility in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Save That Stuff and a Portland-based company, Garbage to Garden, had been contracted by the City of Boston to collect residential food scraps. An article in Waste Dive reported that Save That Stuff ended its involvement in that contract, which is now being fully executed by Garbage to Garden. The collected food scraps are tipped at a WM facility located in Save That Stuff’s Charlestown facility where they are depackaged and processed into a bioslurry that is codigested at a wastewater treatment plant in North Andover, MA.
