Anaerobic Digestion Reduces Carbon Emissions at Waitrose

Waitrose, a major UK Supermarket is making carbon savings equivalent to permanently taking a thousand cars off the road – all by stopping its food waste from going to landfill. The scheme is producing enough electricity to continually power around 200 homes. The food waste is collected from one hundred of its stores and processed by specialist anaerobic digestion operators BiogenGreenfinch. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a method which sees food waste materials broken down by microorganisms and transformed into green electricity and biofertiliser for local crops. AD is now widely recognised by the Government and others as the best method for the sustainable management of food waste, and has a dramatic impact in reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. Food waste sent to landfill is very harmful to the environment as it allows methane and other poisonous gases to leak into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Arthur Sayer, Recycling & Waste Manager for Waitrose said “AD is the preferred route for us to correctly dispose of food waste. It has the combined merits of preventing methane gas from entering the atmosphere, producing renewable energy and, most importantly, eliminating the need to send food waste to landfill. We were the first UK food retailer to begin using AD back in 2008 and are delighted to have made significant carbon savings by extending its use over the past two years so that it’s now used by 100 of our shops.” The project is preventing 2,715 tonnes of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. Richard Barker, Chief Executive, BiogenGreenfinch said, “We hope that other food producers will take inspiration from what Waitrose are doing. We are beginning to see what a vital role anaerobic digestion could play in fulfilling the UK’s energy supply and combating climate change. ”