UK supermarket Sainsbury’s is to start converting its annual 60,000 tonnes of food waste into energy instead of sending it to landfill.
Under the new scheme, the waste will be taken to anaerobic digester plants and converted into methane gas which will in turn generate electricity. The scheme has already been trialled at a digester in Northamptonshire, central UK where waste is currently sent from 38 stores.
Head of environmental action team Lawrence Christensen said Sainsbury’s wants to become the first British retailer not to send any waste to landfill sites. The announcement comes after pledges at the end of last year to turn food waste into pet food.
Environmental website Treehugger notes that in the UK some 6.7 million tonnes of food is wasted every year, 50% of which is unopened or otherwise untouched. The generation of electricity from burning waste is currently not eligible for financial incentives such as UK Renewable Obligation Certificates, however generating using an anaerobic digester means that electricity from this waste does qualify.
These green projects can make a valuable contribution towards a more carbon neutral energy base, improving our self sufficiency and also avoiding sending so much of our waste to landfill sites.
