Convert Your Unwanted Trick-or-Treat Candy Into Renewable Energy

UnReal, “the unjunked food company,” announced that it is hosting a Halloween candy trade-in, where families can drop off their excess or unwanted trick-or-treat candy to be converted into renewable energy – instead of tossing it in the trash.

The event takes place on Nov. 2 from 3-6 p.m. at Whole Foods Market Newton, 916 Walnut St.

Families can drop off their candy at a designated UnReal booth in-store. The unwanted candy will then be turned into energy using the Grind2EnergyTM system; an organics recovery process that converts food scraps into renewable energy like natural gas, electricity, and compressed natural gas and fertilizer. The Newton store is one of three Boston-area Whole Foods Markets participating in the Halloween trade-in event.

“As a mission based company, we’re always looking to do better - not only by providing consumers with the best tasting candy, made with 100% real, sustainably sourced ingredients - but also by making a positive impact on the environment,” said UnReal CMO Amanda Reiss in a statement. “Food waste is a serious global problem. As a Boston-based food company, we’re excited to help our local community dispose of unwanted Halloween candy in an environmentally friendly way, using the waste for productive purposes instead.”

All candy collected by UnReal will be ground up by the local company’s own team members, using Emerson’s Grind2EnergyTM system at the Whole Foods Market River Street location in Cambridge. Providing an alternative to landfills, Grind2Energy converts food waste through its organics recycling system by grinding the waste into a “liquid slurry,” which is stored in a tank on site. Requiring no staff supervision, this “slurry,” or waste mixture, is vacuumed and transported to a local anaerobic digestion facility. At the facility, the potentially harmful methane gas is trapped and transformed into sustainable energy, which can take the form of natural gas, electricity, and more. What is left of the slurry, after the gas has been removed, is a natural fertilizer that can be safely used by local farms.

UnReal was founded by two Boston-area teenagers after much of their Halloween candy was confiscated by their parents, and is now reimagining America’s favorite candies using only the best tasting, fair trade, organic, and sustainably-sourced ingredients. For more information or to purchase UnReal’s unjunked candies, visit http://www.getunreal.com.

Information provided by UnReal.