Food Waste to Electricity in Devon

12,000 homes in the Axe valley area of Devon, are recycling their kitchen waste, through weekly collections, the collected material is then used to produce a gas, by mixing them with animal slurry, which is then used to generate electricity for the National Grid. The scheme is part of East Devon Council's aim to recycle 50% of all waste by 2010. Towns taking place in the scheme are Axminster, Beer, Colyton, Musbury, Seaton and Uplyme. Other areas in councils remit will be included in 2009.

The waste is collected on a weekly basis, residents simply place any food waste, with the exception of liquids into special containers provided by the council. It is then taken to a biogas plant at Holsworthy. There through a process of anaerobic digestion, a gas is produced, which is then burned to create electricity.

"The waste food will be mixed with animal slurry. The bacteria in the mixture will then heat itself to 70C and it will go through a digestion process, producing gas."
Paul Deakin, Waste Manager, East Devon District Council

Whilst there is no certainty in the amount of waste that will be collected, the resulting reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfill will not only help the environment, but also reduce the ever increasing landfill fees, however these will most likely be offset through the collection. In the long-term it is likely other council areas will implement similar schemes across the country, as the fees on each tonne of waste landfilled is rising by approximately £8 per year. But one other exciting bit of news released this week is that over one-third of homes in England are composting waste.

Related Articles
Love Food ... Hate Waste
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Guide to Home Composting

The Food We Waste

In the UK we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, roughly a third of everything we buy. Most of this avoidable and could have been eaten if only we had planned, stored and managed it better. Less than a fifth is truly unavoidable – things like bones, cores and peelings.

Nearly one quarter of the 4.1 million tonnes of avoidable food waste is thrown away whole, untouched or unopened. Of this, at least 340,000 tonnes is still in date when thrown away. A further 1.2 million tonnes is simply left on our plates. This all adds up to a story of staggering wastefulness.

The report of the ground-breaking study that provides, for the first time, reliable information about the nature, amount and origin of food waste produced by UK households. The purpose of the report is to assist WRAP, government, retailers and the food industry to develop policies, advice, tips and tools to help us all reduce the amount of good food we buy but don’t eat.

You can download the full report here.

Every day we throw away:

• 5.1 million whole potatoes
• 4.4 million whole apples
• 2.8 million whole tomatoes
• 7 million whole slices of bread
• 1.3 million unopened yoghurts and yoghurt drinks
• 1.2 million sausages
• 1 million slices of ham
• 0.7 million whole eggs
• 0.7 million whole bars of chocolate and unwrapped sweets
• 0.3 million unopened meat-based ready meals or takeaways
• 0.3 million unopened packets of crisps

All this wasted food is costly; in the UK we spend £10.2 billion every year buying and then throwing away good food. That works out at £420 for the average UK household. And for households with children it’s even more - £610 a year.

Local councils then spend another £1 billion collecting our food waste and sending most of it to landfill.

Food waste is also harmful to the environment. The food we throw away needlessly is responsible for the equivalent of 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year – that’s the same as the CO2 emitted by one in every five cars on UK roads. It’s not just the methane that’s released when the food goes to landfill that’s the problem, but also the energy spent producing, storing and transporting the food to us. Put another way, every tonne of food we throw away needlessly is responsible for 4.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.

Food waste is an enormous challenge, not least because most of us don’t yet recognise the amount we all produce. But it is also a massive opportunity – to reduce waste, save money and minimise our impact on the environment.

We can reduce our food waste by taking simple free measures;

• Sort your cupboards
  
  • Arrange your cupboards, fridge and freezer to ensure that you have no food which is past its "use by" date.
  • Arrange food by type and place in date order with the most recent date to the front.
  • You may find that you can survive without visiting the supermarket for a few weeks.
• Plan your meals
  
  • Plan in advance meals over a week, you do not need to physically write this down but mentally take note.
  • Be creative you can create some wonderful combinations from the scraps you find in a fridge.
• Plan your purchases
  
  • Plan in advance what you need from the supermarket.
  • Don't be tempted to buy items through special offers which you may not need or use within the use by date.
  • Do not buy items which you have multiples already.
    
  • Only purchase enough pershiables which you can use within the dates.
  • Do not go to the supermarket with "Eyes Bigger than Your Belly" and an empty stomach.
    
• Composting
  
  • Any food which you do not consume by the use by date can be added to a compost heap.
  • Packaged foods excessively past their best before date can be removed from their packaging and composted and the packaging recycled.
    
  • Compost bins can be purchased relatively cheaply and some local councils offer free compost bins.
    
  • Find Your Local Council Contact Details.

For more information on how to reduce food waste, visit WRAPs new site Love Food, Hate Waste.

The study, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world, consisted of a detailed survey of households and a physical analysis of their rubbish. It was designed to not only quantify the amounts and types of food waste being produced but to make links between this and the attitudes displayed by and disposal options available to the household.

A representative sample of 2,715 households in England and Wales was interviewed in July-October 2007, and several weeks later the waste from 2,138 of them was collected and analysed. These households were all within a group of 11 geographically representative local authority areas chosen to reflect a range of collection systems, including food waste collections. Participants were asked about their perceptions on a range of issues concerning household waste, focusing on food.

Households were informed that as part of the research their waste would be collected for analysis, asked for their signed consent, and given the chance to opt out if they chose. Bin analysis was only carried out with those who consented, which was the vast majority. A period of four weeks then elapsed before their waste was collected for analysis to ensure that any temporary behaviour changes as a result of increased awareness of the research had dissipated.

We used industry standard waste analysis techniques to sort and categorise the waste. We then defined the food waste as either: avoidable food waste – where the food has been thrown away because it is no longer wanted or has been allowed to go past its best. Examples include an
apple or half a pack of cheese; possibly avoidable food waste – where the food waste could possibly have been avoided but incorporates food items that can be eaten but that many choose not to. Examples include bread crusts and potato skins; and unavoidable food waste – where the food waste results from food preparation and includes foods such as meat bones and hard vegetable or fruit peelings such as melon rind.

After analysis, the waste was disposed of safely on the same day, with the assistance of the local authority or their contractor. Where facilities existed – in just under half the authorities involved – the food waste was sent for composting. The result of this detailed survey and physical analysis is a comprehensive analysis of how much food we throw away, who is throwing it away, and what it costs society.

Guide to Home Composting

With the average person in the UK disposing of 517kg of waste each year, the increasing need to reduce waste being landfilled is an environmental and financial dilemma for most councils and governments. The Environment Agency's National Household Waste Analysis project suggests that about 60% of all municipal waste is biodegradable and by 2020 the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill must be reduced to 75% of the amount produced in 1995 to meet targets set by the UK government.

One way we can assist is through composting our biodegradable waste. I have now collected my composter from my local council for only £5. A quick look on the website with the accompanying literature suggest that the recommended retail price is £40. Many councils in the UK offer this reduced and subsidised scheme, some will even give you an accompanying kitchen caddy and free delivery. Find your local council to see what scheme they offer.

For more information how to reduce your household food waste.

Financially each tonne of waste is taxed by government at £24, then the additional cost charged by the landfill owner per tonne, if this is the council then they incur cost through construction and this ultimately passed to the local community in council taxes .

So you have your composter, what should you do?

Place your compost bin on well-drained soil in a sunny part of the garden, loosening soil beneath the composter. This improves drainage, and encourages worms and bacteria to enter the composter from the surrounding earth.

By placing a layer of manure or kitchen waste on to the loose soil this will attract worms and bacteria quicker.

It is best to add different types of materials in levels, 3 to 6 inches in depth.

If not included get yourself a kitchen caddy or bucket, this will save you having to travel to the bottom of the garden at the end of every meal.

A good mix of waste is essential to aid in the decomposition of waste.

What's In

• Vegetables and Fruit
  High in essential nitrogen and carbon
  Best in small pieces, peelings are fine but chop up full sized waste fruit
• Tea Leaves & Coffee Grounds
• Crushed Egg Shells
• Weeds
  Compost heaps should rise above 66 degrees Celsius killing off weed seeds and disease
  Do Not Compost - Couch grass, bindweed or creeping buttercup, the conditions in a compost heap are ideal for them to keep on growing
• Grass Cuttings
  High in nitrogen, they act as a good activator
  Mix with kitchen and woody waste
• Hair
  From people and pets, it will all break down
• Paper
  Ideally in small amounts and shredded
• Animal Manure
  Vegetarian pets only
  Best mixed with straw
• Evergreen Clippings
  Taking a long time to decompose (especially conifers), these should be used sparingly
• Leaves
  Contain lignin, taking a long time to decompose, best composted separately
• Prunings
  Add only in small amounts and chopped up well
• Straw & Hay
  Used is best
  Dry straw and hay should be soaked before adding
• Spent Hops
  High in nutrition
• Vacuum Dust
  Only from woollen carpets
  Synthetic threads will not break down
  
  

And what to avoid ...

• Disposable nappies, used tissues and excrement
  In case disease is not destroyed by the composting process
• Hard objects, stones, bits of glass, metal and plastic
• Household or garden chemicals
• Brightly coloured or shiny card or printed papers
• Meat (cooked or raw)
  The smell can attract animals

To get the best results your composter should be kept warm, moist and oxygenated. Placing the composter in direct sunlight, and away from wind will allow the the plastic to absorb UV rays and heat the compost. By ensuring the lid is on at all times allows the heat and moisture to be confined. If your compost starts to dry out, add water as and when required. Most compost bins are specifically designed to allow the sufficient aeration, however you turning the materials you will increase aeration and speed up the decomposition process. You can add air pockets with scrunched up newspaper or shredded paper.

Your compost when ready should be an odourless crumbly brown material, by digging it into your soil in early spring or late autumn you will improve the soil structure, it will also act as a fertiliser. Mixing with clay soil will improve drainage and aeration, whilst mixing with sandy soil will slow over-draining and hold essential moisture.

Using a 3" mulch of compost around the garden helps retain moisture and prevent weeds. In releases its nutrients into the soil and improves texture. Worms will pull the mulch down into their burrows, passing it through their gut breaking it down even more and mixing it into the soil at the same time.


Troubleshooting

• Compost is not getting hot enough to break down material
  Compost mix not right, add more soft sappy nitrogen-rich activating materials (eg grass)
• Composter slows in winter
  Bacteria slow down, add additional activators in the compost heap will increase the heat
• Compost heap dries out
  Evaporation of water due to heat, water you compost until moist, keeping the lid on should help lock in the moisture
• Flies
  Larvae feed on the vegetation.They are not a nuisance, however excessive levels are unwanted. Avoid pesticides. Cover the pile with paper and bury kitchen scraps
• Unpleasant smell
  Not enough air is getting to the compost. Aerate the compost using a fork or aeration stick.

It may sound that composting is a pretty arduous task and may not be suited to everyone, however once you get used to separating the waste and composting once a day. It should take no longer than five minutes work. By composting you will prevent a large proportion of your household waste going to landfill, by composting you will also save your local authority some cash each year to spend on real things not big holes in the ground.

For more indepth information on composting visit Master Composter

"There's Nothing Wrong with Mouldy Cheese"

Each person in the UK disposes of about £400 of food per year, the equivalent to £65m per day in the UK. Most of the food disposed of is perfectly safe to eat. Fare Share distributes quality surplus food to 12 000, homeless and vunerable people each day in the UK. Over 100 companies supply Fare Share with its daily food requirements through offloading stock from stores and distribution centres which will not be able to reach the public in sufficient time before the "Best Before" date.

"The food industry sometimes had to put "very, very healthy" use-by dates on products because of "really tight legislation"
Alex Green, Marketing Director, Charity Fare Share

Best Before

But what does "Best Before" really mean? ... In reality these dates appear on a range of dried, tinned, frozen and other foods, however these dates refer to quality rather than the safe consumption of the food. After the "Best Before" date the quality of the product may deteriate, mainly in flavour and texture. There is one exception to this rule which is eggs. Eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which can easily multiply (doubling every 20 minutes). Note that the date is only relevant should you follow the manufactures instructions on storage of the product.

Use By

Generally found on products with a short shelf life, such as milk, fresh fish, eggs and fresh meat. Don't use any food or drink after the end of the 'use by' date on the label, even if it looks and smells fine. This is because using it after this date could put your health at risk. Note that the date is only relevant should you follow the manufactures instructions on storage of the product.

Display Until

Date marks such as 'display until' or 'sell by' often appear near or next to the 'best before' or 'use by' date. They are used by some shops to help with stock control and are instructions for shop staff, not shoppers.

"There's nothing wrong with mouldy cheese, just cut the mould off"

Anthony Worrall Thompson, Celebrity Chef, Suggesting we are too quick to throw out food.

For more information on what is safe to eat visit Choice.

The issue of food waste is fast becoming an issue, with 6.7m tonnes of food waste reaching landfills each year (about 110kg per person). To reduce the waste we should first prevent, here is a plan which you should enact today and will only take 20 minutes.

• Sort your cupboards
  
  • Arrange your cupboards, fridge and freezer to ensure that you have no food which is past its "use by" date.
  • Arrange food by type and place in date order with the most recent date to the front.
  • You may find that you can survive without visiting the supermarket for a few weeks.
• Plan your meals
  
  • Plan in advance meals over a week, you do not need to physically write this down but mentally take note.
  • Be creative you can create some wonderful combinations from the scraps you find in a fridge.
• Plan your purchases
  
  • Plan in advance what you need from the supermarket.
  • Don't be tempted to buy items through special offers which you may not need or use within the use by date.
  • Do not buy items which you have multiples already.
    
  • Only purchase enough pershiables which you can use within the dates.
• Composting
  
  • Any food which you do not consume by the use by date can be added to a compost heap.
  • Packaged foods excessively past their best before date can be removed from their packaging and composted and the packaging recycled.
    
  • Compost bins can be purchased relatively cheaply and some local councils offer free compost bins.
    
  • Find Your Local Council Contact Details.