On Thursday, March 27th, ALCOSAN employees teamed up with the crew from Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh to load three vans with pet food donations for local shelter animals.

Originally, ALCOSAN purchased the dog and cat food to nourish microorganisms—colloquially known as "bugs"—that play a vital role in the plant’s wastewater treatment process. These bugs help break down solid waste as part of the plant’s water treatment process. However, during recent work to relocate our outfall, the bugs' usual food source was temporarily disrupted. In place of their regular diet, the microorganisms thrived on high-protein pet food.

Once the project was completed, ALCOSAN found itself with a surplus of pet food no longer needed. Rather than let it go to waste, ALCOSAN donated the 276 bags of food—each weighing between 40 and 50 pounds—to HART. This donation is expected to feed shelter pets for an entire month.