The Connecticut Green Bank announced the closing of a $1.3 million term financing facility to Bright Feeds, a New England-based company that rescues and upcycles surplus food into nutrient-optimized animal feed. This financing supported the purchase and installation of a thermal oxidizer at Bright Feeds鈥� Berlin facility, ensuring compliance with emissions standards while enabling the company to continue scaling operations. By converting surplus food into animal feed, Bright Feeds helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the disposal of unused food and decreases reliance on traditional feed crops like corn and soy. Bright Feeds will operate under air and waste permits, allowing up to 105,000 tons of unused, excess food per year.
鈥淲e are excited to provide this loan to an innovative local company working to support Connecticut鈥檚 waste diversion and climate goals,鈥� said Bryan Garcia, President and CEO, Connecticut Green Bank. 鈥淲hat Bright Feeds does is a great example of how technology can help solve our organic waste problem and create beneficial situations for businesses seeking ways to divert waste and those feeding livestock, as well as environmental benefits for everyone.鈥�
This investment aligns with Connecticut鈥檚 Comprehensive Materials Management Strategy (CMMS), which prioritizes organic waste diversion and recycling. It also supports the Green Bank鈥檚聽Comprehensive Plan聽goal of deploying capital into environmental infrastructure projects that address critical organic waste management challenges, which became part of the Green Bank鈥檚 expanded scope in聽June 2021 with the passage聽of Public Act 21-115.
鈥淏right Feeds was founded on the belief that surplus food should be repurposed into a high-quality livestock feed that benefits farmers and the environment,鈥� said Jonathan Fife, CEO of Bright Feeds.聽 鈥淪upport from the Connecticut Green Bank enabled us to install advanced emissions controls and continue scaling our operations, allowing us to redirect more surplus food from landfills while supporting local agricultural supply chains.鈥�
The thermal oxidizer was installed and permitted by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), resolving emissions concerns and enabling Bright Feeds to resume production scale-up. The Berlin facility is expected to achieve sustained profitability and continue increasing production levels toward its full engineered capacity by late 2027.
鈥淭his project is the first completed transaction under the Green Bank鈥檚 expanded mission into environmental infrastructure and serves as a proof point that strategic investments in Environmental Infrastructure can simultaneously advance state policy, drive meaningful greenhouse gas reductions, and accelerate commercial climate solutions, a powerful demonstration of how the Green Bank model delivers catalytic impact well beyond the energy sector,” said Austin Dziki, Associate Director of Environmental Infrastructure Programs at the Green Bank.