Emerald Biogas Ltd the North East’s first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility.

Emerald Biogas – The Overview

Kevin Quigley – Business Development Manager.

The Business

• Formed in 2009

• Partnership between:

• John Warren ABP – Waste Management & Recycling Business

• Agricore – Farming, Land & Resource Management Business

John Warren ABP

• Family-owned and founded in 1946

• Three generations of waste management experience

• Services the entire agricultural sector

• Now offers a food waste collection service for Emerald Biogas

Agricore

• New company derived from J&S Bainbridge

• Three key services:

• plasterboard waste management and recycling facility producing gypsum

• agricultural services including contract farming and land management

• supply and distribution of digestate from Emerald Biogas

Why Anaerobic Digestion?

• Harnessing our proven combined knowledge and experience

• Opportunity to address growing food waste crisis

• Transferring our skills to support the renewable energy agenda

• Long term investment supporting the local economy

The Plant

• The £8m facility is the North East’s first commercial food waste AD plant

• Our specific location will fully optimise the green energy

• Neighbouring businesses will utilise the heat generated

• Overall accessibility enables us to process waste from

• Northumberland to York

• Cumbria to Teesside

Phase 1

• Now fully operational, we will process 50,000 tonnes of food waste annually

• We can collect and recycle waste from:

• food manufacturers

• restaurants & hotels

• leisure & retail outlets

• local authorities & civic amenities

Looking Ahead

• Long-term plan to grow the business creating more jobs

• Planning permission secured to quadruple the site

• Plans to diversify into the residential food waste market

• Increase our activities with local authorities

A Growing Concern

Every year:

• 15m tonnes of food waste is sent to landfill

• £6.9bn of food waste is produced by the UK’s grocery & food manufacturing sector

• £15bn of food is thrown away by UK households

• Our region generates over 800,000 tonnes of food waste

What Can We Do?

Traditional disposal methods:

• Food waste is not segregated = larger waste volumes for the collector

• Collection charges are based on weight = very high

• Waste is typically taken to landfill, a MRF or an incinerator

• No opportunity to convert waste into a valuable commodity

What Is The Alternative?

Food waste collection:

• Segregating food waste = reduced weight and reduced cost

• Collection frequency can also be reduced, again reducing cost

• Opportunity to transform the waste into a valuable commodity and new product

The AD Process

• It removes all traces of plastic, glass and metal

• The waste is added to the buffer tank

• Pasteurisation takes place

• The waste is then added to the digestion tank