Waste recycling company ReFood has received planning consent to build a new £30 million anaerobic digestion recycling plant in Dagenham.
The plant will take 160,000 tonnes of food waste, which would otherwise go to landfill and create enough biogas to supply around 10,000 homes. Leftover waste from the process will become liquid fertiliser for plants.
The facility will also create up to 60 new jobs in addition to some relocated jobs.
It will be ReFood’s third site in the UK and is part of a major reinvestment in the company’s recycling facilities. Another new site in Widnes, Cheshire, is set to open in 2014.
ReFood commercial director Philip Simpson said he was delighted to get the go ahead for the new plant.
“It will help to ensure that food waste arising in the London area can be transformed into renewable energy and valuable nutrients to go back onto the land,” he added.
The news follows ReFood’s announcement this week of the Vision 2020: roadmap to zero food waste to landfill. The report advocates compulsory collection of food waste and a waste hierarchy model which incorporates anaerobic digestion plants.
Simpson said: “There is clearly a desire within retail, the hospitality sector and householders to prevent food waste and also deal with it more responsibly where it does arise. Indeed, we have been delighted by the positive response that the Vision 2020 ambition has already received.”
The factory will be located on the London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP). The aim of the park is to deliver a closed loop system with businesses delivering waste to energy projects, combined heat and power schemes, recycling facilities, and renewable energy technologies.
