An environmental expert has told the government to 'wake up' and embrace the benefits of anaerobic digestion.
Tony Juniper,an independent sustainability and environment adviser, was speaking ahead of 3 December's Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) conference in Westminster.
He believes new technologies such as anaerobic digestion offer the opportunity to achieve economic and job creation benefits, while at the same time meeting environmental goals.
Juniper said: 'The government really needs to wake up to this basic fact, and to more proactively go after the great opportunities we have to hand, including anaerobic digestion.
'Anaerobic digestion can not only help to meet our needs in terms of sustainable energy, but also help to support sustainable farming. When integrated with farming businesses, anaerobic digestion can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the overall carbon footprint of food production, including through sustainable soil and nutrient management, thus improving our ability to feed a growing population while reducing the need for commercial fertilisers.
“If anaerobic digestion reached its potential, the nutrients from food waste alone would be worth over £200 million, and that’s before you’ve taken into account the ‘green’ value of this low-carbon fertiliser. Anaerobic digestion is a closed loop technology, and is therefore a crucial cog in the mechanism of a sustainable society.'
ADBA represents businesses in the anaerobic digestion sector, helping to remove the barriers to growth currently faced by the industry and to promote the benefits of the technology to the UK.
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