Would you believe that a bug’s fart can help save energy?

It’s true! And in the case of the 85 percent power generated by the methane gas captured from micro-organisms at the Joint Meeting of Union and Essex Counties wastewater treatment plant in Elizabeth, part of the “food” the bugs digest is collected from grease traps at Rutgers University.

Known as FOG (fats, oils and grease), the byproduct is collected by Russell Reid, an industrial waste management company in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, carted from university dining halls, offloaded at the treatment plant, and served to millions microscopic critters.