As new recycling rules come into effect, councils across the country are waking up to the potential of converting discarded food into kWh.
Across the UK, local authorities collect and process 2,478,241 tonnes of organic waste annually. According to waste management experts at Divert, every tonne of this matter can produce 300kWh of electricity, meaning it would be possible to produce 743,472,398 kWh of power each year.
The UK Government’s new Simpler Recycling system comes into place today, meaning all councils now operate three separate waste streams — organic, dry mixed, and general non-recyclable. This makes it easier to utilise food waste for specific purposes, such as energy from waste processing.
Analysts are expecting to see a potential 20% uplift in food recycling participation as town and city halls launch their schemes. Once this has been factored in, the total energy potential from organic processing could increase by as much as 511,293,300kWh. Based on these numbers, the total energy output of all Britain’s food waste would be enough to power 464,728 homes.
‘The introduction of standardised food waste collections with Simpler Recycling is a great step forward in reducing waste and the impact on our environment. Currently, the picture is mixed across England, with 174 councils reporting food waste, and 123 not as per the latest data,’ said John Verity, waste management expert at Divert.
‘It is important, however, to educate people on where their food waste goes and the value of separating it correctly,’ he added. ‘Many people are unaware of the huge energy generation potential of food waste through anaerobic digestion, and so it’s time we began approaching the topic as a viable energy source, not just a method to process waste.’
The researchers have also broken this down into regions:
|
Rank |
Region |
Current food waste collected (tonnes) |
Total food waste collection potential (tonnes) |
Potential Increase (%) |
|
1 |
North East |
536.20 |
169,741.25 |
31,556 |
|
2 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
120,608.78 |
434,017.75 |
260 |
|
3 |
East Midlands |
154,976.58 |
361,655.01 |
133 |
|
4 |
West Midlands |
225,228.11 |
456,700.33 |
103 |
|
5 |
North West |
387,318.03 |
648,750.60 |
67 |
|
6 |
South East |
422,883.79 |
617,338.75 |
46 |
|
7 |
London |
285,462.28 |
398,850.45 |
40 |
|
8 |
East of England |
409,116.32 |
552,561.58 |
35 |
|
9 |
South West |
251,741.79 |
322,567.16 |
28 |
Image: simon peel / Unsplash
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