One of Nottinghamshire’s biggest food waste recycling plants is expanding to cope with our mountains of thrown-out produce.
Biodynamic in Colwick is an independent business which collects fifty thousand tonnes of food waste every year.
Biodegradable refuse from institutions such as the county’s schools and hospitals is converted to renewable energy to provide electricity for more than ten thousand homes.
Imagine 2,000 cars worth of CO2
Technical director Gary Burgess said: “Our plans are for another two of these domes which will take it from around 4,00 homes worth of energy from around 10,00 homes.
“We hope to start this summer and it will take around 12 months for us to complete.
“If you imagine in a year a thousand to 2,000 cars worth of CO2 emissions – that’s how much CO2 our process saves already.”
The company piles up the masses of waste in domes – known as ‘stomachs’ and harnesses the methane gas the rotting process produces to create power.
The process is also known as anaerobic digestion.
