Tuesday 1 March 2011

Veg firm sows seeds of green energy

A vegetable producer in Lincolnshire has opened an anaerobic digestion plant funded by government cash.

Staples Vegetables in Boston, one of the biggest producers of vegetables in the UK, will produce 11m kilowatt hours of electricity per year from up to 40,000 tonnes of waste vegetables.

The company's AD plant has been funded by the Environmental Transformation Fund, a collaboration between DEFRA, DECC and the Waste & Resources Action Programme.

Staples' managing director Vernon Read said that the AD plant would give the company control over "not only the future pricing of power, but also over power security".

Work is also well underway on an anaerobic digestion plant in Cambridgeshire.

The plant is being built by renewable energy company Local Generation and will turn packaged and unpackaged food waste into clean energy.

Local Generation director Nick Waterman said: "We're genuinely excited about providing an efficient and ethical alternative for dealing with the region's waste".

Three further government-funded AD facilities are due to open this Spring, with another 30 in the planning stage.

Marcus Gover, director of market development at the Waste & Resources Action Programme, said: "AD is a growing part of the resource efficiency solution, capable of reducing biodegradable waste from landfill so reducing methane emissions, creating renewable energy, stimulating the green economy and improving the sustainability of commercial agriculture."