LAWR

April 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 11 FOOD WASTE Cory's first AD facility: Two years on Cory Environmental opened its first anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in 2013 in Somerset. Two years on, Liz Gyekye finds out what impact it has had on the area. he 12,000 tonne-a- year capacity plant in Weston-super-Mare is processing around 7,500 tonnes of food waste from North Somerset. It also has the capability of generating enough energy to power nearly 1,000 homes. The AD plant has brought many benefits to the local area, according to Councillor Peter Bryant, North Somerset Council's executive member responsible for waste and recycling. The Council has a seven-year contract with Cory Environmental. "AD and the generation of electricity has pushed the treatment of food waste up the waste hierarchy and has helped North Somerset become a top-performing authority in relation T BOa: The green way of recycling! energy savings? BOa ecOline Impress baler Our impress baler's, M and D Series, can be delivered with steel wire tying and PP twine tying, combined on one machine. Boa Recycling Program We develop and deliver among other: • Balers (Impress®, Continette, Baseline) • Bag openers • Shredders • reel Splitters • conveyors The BOA BAler Type ecOline cAn reduce pOwer cOnsumpTiOn By up TO 60%. BOa recycling equiPMenT BV T +31 (0) 534 300 300 e infO@BOarecycling.nl www.BoaRecyclIng.com to carbon savings made through its recycling services," says Bryant. Act global, think local Before the plant was built, food waste was sent to an in-vessel composting outside of the authority area. Now, with the AD plant based locally, transportation has reduced and food waste is treated in the area. When the plant initially opened it had the capacity to produce 500kw of electricity per hour. Cory has recently upgraded the plant and installed a second generator with a 600kw capacity. It hasn't all been plain sailing. Bryant acknowledges that local residents had initial concerns about odour from the plant. Nevertheless, he says that "Cory has worked hard in resolving this issue". North Somerset and Cory are currently working on ways to improve the food waste collection service, which the Council offers to around 90,000 householders. It carried out some trials last year on the use of plastic bags to line resident's kitchen food caddies instead of the traditional compostable liner. The trial was successful and has been rolled out across the authority with the intention that this will remove one of the barriers preventing some residents from using the food waste service and increase participation. Bryant adds: "The plant still has capacity, so one of the areas we want to develop is providing a food waste collection service for SMEs." Odour... 01905 362100 www.airspectrum.com The one stop odour control and dust suppression specialists ...Gone! consulted contained neutralised odour lab odr ENHANCED ENHANCED BESPOKE ODOUR NEUTRALISER ODOUR? DUST? PRIORITY YOUR AIR QUALITY National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit at the University of Worcester 8283 • odour assessment • odour dispersion modelling • odour sampling • acuity testing • odour management planning • ODR neutralisers • nozzle line misting systems • rotary atomisers

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