Vehicles in the UK could soon be powered by food waste with big supermarket chains showing a new interest in food recycling.
Managers from John Lewis and Waitrose have taken a lesson on anaerobic digestion at the UK food recycling plant BiogenGreenfinch.
The managers were shown a demonstration of how a truck can be refuelled with biomethane from food waste processed at the plant.
Fleet Engineer Ray Collington at John Lewis and Waitrose said: “It has been great to see the whole process from the anaerobic digestion of food through to the refuelling of a lorry.”
BiogenGreenfinch Chief Executive Richard Barker said using biomethane as a fuel was “new business” for the company. He said supermarkets would benefit financially as well as environmentally by opting to recycle their food waste.
“It would be a wonderful virtuous circle for our customers, especially as using biomethane as a vehicle fuel can reduce carbon emissions by half and can be thirty per cent cheaper than diesel.”
John Lewis is currently trialling biomethane as a fuel for their vehicles. Waitrose is soon to follow.