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AD Trade Body Highlights Need For ‘Consistent’ Food Collections


With many anaerobic digestion plants, which include pressure relief valves, reliant on food waste, the UK trade body for anaerobic digestion has highlighted the need for more regular and consistent collections for food waste.

With the UK government consulting on recycling consistency in England, the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) has called for weekly food collections from households and businesses in order to better reduce levels of food waste, while restating that this process is the best solution for dealing with inedible food waste which cannot be redistributed to humans or animals. And with the anaerobic digestion process creating biogas which can be used for power, heat and fuel, as well as creating fertiliser, the benefits of AD are something the UK government strongly supports through its recent Resources & Waste Strategy (RWS) and by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, according to Bioenergy News.

However, with more regular food waste collections would require more anaerobic digestion capacity, explained the ADBA. They also called for increased support for local governments in putting these new recycling practices into place.

ADBA chief executive Charlotte Morton also explained the added benefits to modifying behaviour around food waste: “It’s widely acknowledged that food waste collections reduce the amount of edible food thrown away by making this more visible – given the resources involved in producing food, this is the biggest benefit of separately collecting food waste,” she explained.

However, she says, even with the best intentions to reduce food waste as far as possible, it is inevitable and aerobic digestion still represents the most valuable resource for recycling it.