Food waste to biogas AD plant in London given go ahead

A 160,000 tonne per year anaerobic digestion facility that will process food waste into biogas for energy generation has been awarded planning permission in Dagenham, London.

The green light for the plant, which is being developed by ReFood - a part of the Doncaster, UK-based PDM Group - was given by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

ReFood explains that the facility, which is expected to cost in the region of £30 million (€35 million) will be its third site in the UK and is part of a major programme of investment in its food waste recycling facilities. 

The new facility on the London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP) will take 160,000 tonnes of food waste, which would otherwise go to landfill, and create low carbon biogas as well as liquid fertiliser.  

LSIP at Dagenham Dock is reported to be creating the UK’s largest concentration of environmental industries and technologies at 60 acres.

The vision is to deliver a closed loop system, with businesses delivering waste to energy projects, combined heat and power schemes, recycling and reprocessing facilities, and renewable energy technologies.

It is hoped that the system will enable businesses to develop synergies with their neighbours, maximise resource efficiency and innovation and minimise waste.

‘The decision (to grant planning consent) comes in the same week that we launched the Vision 2020: UK roadmap to zero food waste to landfill to achieve zero food waste to landfill by the end of the decade and having the right infrastructure in place to optimise the energy and nutritional value of food waste will have a major part to play in this ambition,’ noted Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood.

ReFood UK says that it opened its first anaerobic digestion plant in Doncaster in 2011 and already plans to double its capacity. The company adds it is also investing a further £20 million in a new biogas-to-grid plant in Widnes, Cheshire, which will process 90,000 tonnes of food waste annually and is due to begin operating in 2014.