UK could generate $1.5bn PA from household food waste

Welcoming the Ellen MacCarthur Foundation’s latest report, Towards the circular economy Vol.2: opportunities for the consumer goods sector released today, Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive, The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, said:

It is excellent to see clear recognition of the intrinsic value stored in the food that we throw away that could be recouped through anaerobic digestion.

 

ADBA would like to see a shift in government policy to provide a clear policy framework that pulls together across waste, energy, farming, transport and business in order for the AD sector and the wider UK economy to benefit from making best use of our resources.

 

The Ellen MacCarthur Foundation report says the UK could generate $1.5 billion a year from household food waste alone and that figure doesn’t include the many other additional benefits that come from processing our food waste through AD, such as reducing GHG emissions. Other benefits include significant improvements in air quality through use of biomethane as a transport fuel, improved energy and food security, and support for our UK farming sector.

 

The government is looking for growth and made a commitment to a ‘huge increase in energy from waste from AD in its Coalition Agreement’. A simple commitment from the government to supporting source segregated waste collections would go a very long way to delivering huge growth through AD, not least 35,000 jobs.

The report also highlights the additional revenues that could be generated in the food and drink, textiles and packaging sectors if we switched to a circular model of production, where the mechanism for reuse is considered at the outset right from the design stage.

Towards the Circular Economy Vol.2: opportunities for the consumer goods sector, is available for download here on the Ellen MacCarthur Foundation website.