LAWR

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE 2015 Supply chain outlook By the end of October 2014 there were 140 operational anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in the UK. The industry is growing. LAWR asks ReFood regional commercial manager Dean Pearce what the rest of 2015 holds for the sector. 1) What are the biggest challenges facing the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry in regards to: i) Municipal food waste collection/processing. When it comes to municipal food waste, the UK is continu- ing to improve. According to Defra's recent annual insight for household recycling report, food waste sent for composting or AD was 11.3% higher than the same period in 2013. While this increase is positive news, nearly all of the growth has been seen in Wales and Scotland, where legislation has favoured separate collection of household food waste. When we consider that the UK produces around 7 million tonnes of food waste each year and that the vast majority of this is sent to landfill or incineration, it is clear that England has a signifi- cant resource stream that it currently squanders. Not only that, but it is disposed of in the most expensive and environmentally damaging ways.The challenge for the AD sector is convinc- ing those in power of the economic, social and environmental benefits in unlocking this feedstock and that the key to achiev- ing that lies in legislative change, separate collection and a consistent waste policy. ii) Commercial food waste collection/processing. The commercial sector really leads the way when it comes to food waste recycling. Industries where it makes up a large proportion of the waste stream, such as food manufacturing and retail, continue to make significant progress. Crucially, the benefit to these businesses has been both environmental and economic, so there is a clear business case for separating and recycling food waste. Reducing food waste delivers the best economic and environmental results, so the general waste bin inadvertently locks the user into a solution that has the least desirable outcomes. 2) How will ReFood respond to those challenges? We will continue to focus on delivering a simple, affordable and practical solution that suits businesses of all sizes. By pro- viding a dedicated food waste collection and recycling service, we can deliver savings of up to 45% on waste costs by diverting food from landfill. We are developing a network of regional AD plants, but feedstock remains crucial. Accordingly, via our 'Vision 2020: UK roadmap to zero food waste to landfill' report, we aim to continue lobbying those in power to set a clear policy and introduce regulation that will prevent food waste from being sent to landfill or incineration. 3) What are the biggest opportunities for your business? First and foremost, there remains a huge opportunity for AD in the UK. Millions of tonnes of food waste is produced nationally, representing a significant and largely untapped April 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 13 resource. By 2020 it is estimated that we could generate over 1.1tW of energy, return more than1.3 million tonnes of nutrient-rich fer- tiliser to farmland, save the public sector over £3.7 billion and pro- duce 27m fewer tonnes of green- house gas emissions, simply by diverting 100% of food waste from landfill. Alongside the obvious benefits, this will play a critical part in our nation's transition to a more circular, closed-loop economy. As a business, ReFood recognises the importance of this approach and last year officially launched the industry's first sustainable biofertiliser brand (produced by recycling food waste through AD), called ReGrow. For the rest of this year, we aim to promote this brand to farmers nationwide. 4) What effect will waste minimisation initiatives play in long-term applications for AD? Ultimately, waste minimisation initiatives will drive down the amount of food waste available to AD plants. However, there will always be a certain level of unavoidable food waste and, at present, the vast majority of it goes to landfill or incinera- tion. Were this made available tomorrow, there would not be sufficient AD capacity in the UK to handle the volume. We therefore need to further promote the benefits of AD, work to ensure that 100% of unavoidable food waste is made available for processing and continue to invest in the infrastructure to meet our needs. 5) With the General Election in May, what one thing would you like to see from the next Government and why? England's waste policy is falling far behind other European Union nations, including its UK counterparts. Recycling rates have stalled at just more than 40% and show little sign of growing sufficiently to achieve our wider EU targets. We believe that food waste prevention is the absolute lynchpin to a better waste strategy for the future; the key to lowering costs, reducing waste, saving valuable and energy resources, increasing recycling, unlocking greater value in recyclables and achieving a lower carbon future. But we are unlikely to achieve this without a clear vision, policy and strategy. We would therefore call upon the next Government to follow the lead of our UK counterparts and deliver a more nationally consistent framework for our food and other waste streams. Only in this way will we achieve the behavioural change across businesses, local authorities and individuals to increase recycling in the UK and meet our wider global targets.

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