A significant milestone has been reached as the UK now has more than 100 waste feedstock anaerobic digestion facilities.
New research from NNFCC and WRAP has shown that there are 106 AD plants outside of the water industry, processing 5.1 million tonnes of food and farm waste every year.
This has an installed electrical capacity of 88MW and around a dozen plants are currently under construction, which will take this generating capacity even higher.
NNFCC head of biomass and biogas Lucy Hopwood said: “This is a significant milestone for the anaerobic digestion industry in the UK and highlights the broad range of companies turning to AD for waste management and to generate renewable heat and electricity.
“Recent actions and innovations in technology development, training and process optimisation have led to greater opportunities and a more robust industry. For investors, anaerobic digestion is an easy win with good returns, support from a number of Government incentives and low investment risk.”
More than half of the plants are community facilities taking waste from the likes of households and supermarkets, while thirty per cent are treating farm waste, and the rest are on-site facilities treating industrial waste such as brewery effluent and food processing residues.
