Ben & Jerry’s ice cream waste now fuels Vermont’s grid, converting dessert leftovers into 8.75 million kilowatt-hours of clean power each year at a new St. Albans plant. The quirky pipeline turns Cherry Garcia rejects into household electricity, making the brand both sweet and shockingly green.

Pipes from Ben & Jerry’s send high-strength ice cream waste directly to the St. Albans facility, where it’s digested into biogas and electricity. The plant, opened December 2024, is a model of industrial symbiosis—turning dessert mishaps into grid power and reducing emissions, as PurposeEnergy’s chief puts it.

Ben & Jerry’s out-of-spec ice cream now powers Vermont homes—8.75 million kWh yearly, thanks to a dedicated waste pipeline and anaerobic digestion.