MEMBER’S PRESS RELEASE: Biogen helps Peterborough City Council save half a million pounds

Food waste collected from Peterborough homes for recycling at Biogen’s Northamptonshire anaerobic digestion plant has saved the Council around half a million pounds.

The 9,000 tonnes of food waste, which would otherwise have gone to landfill, has been recycled over the past two years at Biogen’s Westwood plant near Rushden to  generate electricity for the national grid and a biofertiliser for use on local farmland.

Simon Musther Head of Commercial Operations at Biogen said:

This is fantastic news which will bring benefits to the Council and to the community as a whole.  We have a great working relationship with Peterborough City Council and will continue to provide support so that the money saving and environmental benefits of the scheme can be promoted to householders.

Councillor Gavin Elsey, Cabinet Member for Street Scene, Waste Management and Communications, said:

The introduction of food waste recycling has saved us over £500,000 in landfill costs. This is great news for the city and demonstrates the impact recycling can have, not only on the environment, but also the city's finances. If everyone can do that little bit more when it comes to recycling it can save us huge amounts of money that we can then spend on providing extra services.

Recycling the food waste by anaerobic digestion also means the council has prevented 6,160 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.