Waitrose has been recognised for its industry-leading measures to convert leftover food into renewable energy at the Association for Organics Recycling (AFOR) Awards1 last night.
The award - recognising the retailer’s pioneering work with anaerobic digestion (AD)2 - comes as Waitrose commits a further 66 of its shops to the green scheme. It was won in partnership with recycling experts, Cawleys3.
Waitrose was the first UK food retailer to begin using AD in 2008. This latest step will mean that, by May, over half its shops will send their waste food to be converted in to energy and fed in to the national grid - a higher amount than any other retailer. To-date, Waitrose has generated a total of 400 MWhrs of electricity through AD, enough to boil almost eight million kettles.
AD eliminates the need to send waste to landfill sites - a process which emits methane gas into the atmosphere and contributes towards global warming. The retailer has already diverted 50% of its total operational waste away from landfill and this move will help significantly towards its goal of diverting 95% by 2013.
Waitrose Recycling & Waste manager, Arthur Sayer says: "We work to reduce the amount of waste we produce as its not in our business interest to produce any waste at all. Inevitably though some food waste does occur and AD has proven to be a sustainable way of eliminating the need to send it to landfill, reducing our impact on the environment and creating renewable energy along the way. This recognition comes at an exciting time as we extend AD to more of our shops."
Jon Cawley, Managing Director of Cawleys says: "Waitrose has pioneered the use of anaerobic digestion in the retail market, showing that retailers can make positive environmental changes at all stages in the food chain, treating food waste management as seriously as food sourcing.
"AD creates a positive circle whereby food waste can be recycled back to fertiliser for the land, in a process which produces renewable energy, and avoids sending waste to landf"AD creates a positive circle whereby food waste can be recycled back to fertiliser for the land, in a process which produces renewable energy, and avoids sending waste to landfill where it can produce greenhouse gases. Waitrose has worked very hard with us to make the food recycling service work and we are delighted to be working with them to convert over half of their estate to using AD."
Notes to Editors:
1) Waitrose won the title of ‘Best retail or commercial food waste recycler’ at the Association for Organics Recycling (AFOR) Awards last night. These nationally recognised and prestigious awards celebrate business developments in the collection and treatment of food waste. They recognise that biowaste management is now much more than composting, and rewards those who have made significant technological improvements within the sector.
2) AD is an eco-friendly waste management system in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material. The process produces a methane rich bio-gas which is turned into heat and electricity and fed back in to the national grid.
The anaerobic digestion process wastes nothing along the way. The heat generated is continually reused during the anaerobic digestion process. Additionally, the residue left at the end of the procedure provides an odourless organic fertiliser for growing crops.
Waitrose aims long-term to use AD for all its shops, however a lack of facilities currently prevents full-scale expansion. Waitrose is working to find a viable solution to this.
3)Waitrose food waste is collected by recycling experts, Cawleys, who take it to an anaerobic digestion plant in Bedford, owned and run by environmental farming experts, BIOGEN GREENFINCH (UK) Ltd, part of the Bedfordia Group, where it is converted into electricity.
Waitrose works hard to minimise food waste at all stages of the supply chain. This has included supporting composting trials or supplying food to community projects such as animal sanctuaries and working with food charity FareShare to send surplus food to good causes. Waitrose is also working with farmers and growers to reduce waste and has worked closely with a group of 100 banana growers in the Windward Islands to reduce wastage before the product reaches supermarket shelves.
Waitrose has been a strong supporter of WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste campaign and works to raise consumer awareness of this issue. This has involved providing clearer information on the preparation, cooking and storage of own label products, giving greater prominence to date codes. Where possible, Waitrose indicates the total number of servings per pack. During new product development, Waitrose continually looks at how packaging can ensure maximum shelf life such as reusable and resealable packaging.
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