♪ Let’s talk about waste, AD ♪
Food waste in the UK is a significant environmental issue, and has been for some time. According to the latest report by the Waste and resource Action Programme (WRAP), the UK generated 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in 2018.
In a previous life I didn’t give food waste much thought and that is the case for many. Its easy to buy a little too much or not get around to cooking that tasty looking recipe you found somewhere and end up throwing unused food in the bin. After the lid has closed, do you think about it again? Absolutely not. Unfortunately that food waste doesn’t cease to exist. It’s journey continues and contributes to a serious problem.
In landfill biological material will initially decompose aerobically (using oxygen). At this stage the major gas released is carbon dioxide (CO2). After a while when material has settled and more material has been added, decomposition becomes anaerobic (without oxygen) and methane is produced instead. Fortunately not all food waste is sent to landfill. Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants are an alternative destination. Under strictly controlled conditions, such plants not only safely decompose food waste but also capture the resulting methane emissions for energy production. More on this later.
As a greenhouse gas, methane is 84-87 times more effective at trapping solar radiation (heat) than CO2 over 20 years. It is therefore incredibly important to rapidly reduce the production of methane from any source in order to achieve climate goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
In 2018, the 9.5 million tonnes of UK food waste generated 36 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses, was valued at £19 billion, and came from the following sources.
· 6.6 million tonnes (70%) from households.
· 1.5 million tonnes (16%) from manufacturers.
· 1.1 million tonnes (12%) from hospitality and food service (HaFS).
· 0.3 million tonnes (3%) from the retail industry.
©WRAP, 2018
While food waste has fallen by 15% since 2017, 6.6 million tonnes is still a huge amount. Its also amazing to consider how much Is generated from households, 70%!! It’s easy to think throwing a little food out is inconsequential to the vast amount you assume large companies, manufacturers, and producers make. I know, I’ve been there myself. But the reality is the accumulative effect of over 66 million people (in 2018) waste a little here and a little there is actually a really big deal! And when you start to think, it seems so obvious. Manufacturers, producers, retail, and hospitality are all incentivized to minimize waste during operations and in their supply chains because waste impacts their profits because they operate at larger scales. And scale is key. I used not to think twice about that bag liquidized spinach I forgot about at the back of the fridge because the scale was too small. But maybe if I knew the cost of my accumulated waste over my lifetime I might think again.
As part of the Environment Act 2021, the UK government committed to mandatory weekly food waste collections by 2023. So far, plans to implement this are yet to emerge. Fortunately not all food waste produced goes to landfill.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants maximize the methane production from food waste and capture and upgrade the gas so it can be injected into the gas grid to displace the use of fossil gas.
At ACL we work closely with AD operators to ensure their processes are as sustainable as possible. This includes annual sustainability audits, PAS 110 audits, emissions calculations, sustainability and ISCC EU certifications, Ofgem submissions, and data administration.