Anaerobic Digester to help local businesses

Posted 14 December 2010

A new state-of the art waste management facility at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire is aiming to help regional food businesses save money by cutting their food waste disposal costs.

The new Anaerobic Digester (AD) unit at the site in Edgmond, near Newport uses biological processes to turn organic and food waste into energy.

The facility can help businesses in the food industry, from producers to processors, distributors to retailers and caterers to hoteliers - cut costs, avoid landfill, meet environmental objectives and help keep customers happy.

The cost of waste, which has been steadily rising, will increase again next April as the Government raises the landfill tax, but the AD unit could provide a more cost effective and greener solution than sending waste to landfill.

Paul Moran, Estates and Facilities Manager at Harper Adams, said: “This new facility could provide large, local organisations which produce food waste, with a greener solution than sending their waste to landfill, which we all know is costly and bad for the environment.

“We can provide an alternative to that in an environmentally friendly way and are asking any organisations which produce large quantities of food waste- such as caterers, local authorities, farms and supermarkets, to contact us to see if we can help.

“This is an exciting time for Harper Adams as we are committed to fighting climate change. But we are also committed to working with and supporting local businesses and through this new facility we want to help other organisations to be greener and save money.

“The AD unit will also be used as an educational tool, and everyone from farmers to primary school pupils will be able to find out more about renewable energy technology from the development.”

Any interested parties that would like to know more, or feel that their business could benefit, should call (01952) 815160.