Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire supermarkets recycle food waste

Supermarkets in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire are sending their waste food to an anaerobic digestion plant as part of a trial.

Biodegradable waste from five Waitrose branches is collected by recycling firm Cawleys and taken to Biogen’s anaerobic digestion plant in Bedford.

In the plant, the waste, which can include paper plates and biodegradable products as well as food, is mixed with bacteria in giant tanks, where it creates biogas – methane and carbon dioxide.

Instead of simply releasing the carbon dioxide in the waste slowly into the atmosphere as the food rots in a landfill, the waste is used to power a biogas power plant.

Heat generated during the process is regularly reused and the final solid by-product can be used as fertiliser.

Waitrose Recycling Waste Manager Arthur Sayer told FoodBev: "Anaerobic digestion has been operating in other European countries, such as Germany, for decades, so we thought it was worth trying out on a commercial scale for our supermarkets. So far, the signs are really positive, and this looks to be a sustainable way of eliminating the need to send waste food to landfill."

Environment minister Joan Ruddock told the Times that anaerobic digestion was the "way forward".