Cheese maker opens biogas plant

Cheese manufacturer Wyke Farms has launched a £4 million (€4.7 million) biogas plant at its site in Somerset, UK.

The plant took five years to plan and build. It features three 4,600m3 digester vessels and will convert 75,000 tonnes a year of biodegradable waste materials from the farm and dairy, including manure, into energy.

Wyke Farms said in a statement the new AD facility will help it save over 4 million kg of carbon dioxide per annum.

Richard Clothier, MD of Wyke Farms, says: 'Sustainability and environmental issues are increasing in importance to each and every consumer in the UK and green energy makes both emotional and practical sense. It simply closes a cycle. We can now take the cow waste (which has inherently been a problem) and turn it into pure, clean energy to drive all our own needs and more. This is turn leaves a natural fertiliser that we can plough back into the land to invest in the future health and wellbeing of our cattle – and so that cycle starts again.'

The new plant means Wyke Farms is the UK's first national cheddar brand to be fully self-sufficient in renewable energy. It is part of the cheese brand's £10 million green energy venture, which also includes solar power and water re-usage across its farms.