Waitrose Wins Award For A Innovative Food To Fuel Program

UK supermarket giants Waitrose plus recycling specialists Cawleys have both been awarded by the Association for Organics Recycling for their pioneering waste-to-energy recycling scheme, where food waste is sent for conversion to energy and given to the national grid. Currently, Waitrose has produced an overall total of 400 megawatt hours of electrical power using the method, more than enough to boil just about eight million kettles.

The method, called anaerobic digestion, employs microorganisms to break down biodegradable material. The procedure yields a methane-rich bio-gas, which may be converted into heat and electricity. The broken-down food product will then be turned into fertiliser. The process eliminates the requirement to send waste to landfill, reducing greenhouse gases as well as other costs.

Jon Cawley, Managing Director of Cawleys, said: “Waitrose has pioneered the use of anaerobic digestion in the retail market, showing that retailers can make positive environmental changes at all stages in the food chain, treating food waste management as seriously as food sourcing.”

By May, it is anticipated that more than half of Waitrose’s waste will go to the program, with a target of 95% by 2013. Waitrose Recycling & Waste manager, Arthur Sayer says: “We work to reduce the amount of waste we produce, as it’s not in our business interest to produce any waste at all. Inevitably though some food waste does occur and AD has proven to be a sustainable way of eliminating the need to send it to landfill, reducing our impact on the environment and creating renewable energy along the way.”