Funding for zero waste technology

15 Apr 2008 04:40 PM Up to £6 million will be available over three years to fund innovative projects to treat organic waste.

Funded through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the investment will support businesses in the private, public and voluntary sectors seeking to treat organic waste, with a particular emphasis on food waste.

The announcement comes in the same week that the Scottish public were again urged to 'love food' and 'hate waste'.

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

"Dealing with waste sustainably is crucial to the future of Scotland and the future of the planet.

"While our performance on waste has improved considerably, with notable progress on recycling and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill, there is still much to be done to meet our goal of a zero waste Scotland.

"In order for us to achieve this role, we need greater recognition of the significant business opportunities that composting and recycling of materials can present.

"Today's grant scheme will support businesses investing in waste treatment by funding up to 30 per cent of the costs of in-vessel composting plants, anaerobic digestion plants or thermophilic aerobic digestion plants.

"To hit the ambitious recycling and composting targets that I announced in January, we will need more infrastructure to treat food waste and this grant scheme is part of our work in this area.

"The public too, have a role in dealing with food waste and the Scottish Waste Awareness Group has just relaunched their successful 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign.

"At least half of the food we throw away could actually have been eaten, with food making up nearly 20 per cent of the average household bin.

"If we stopped wasting all this food, this could save around 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions - the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road.

"Clearly, organic waste is one of the issues we will need to tackle if we are to achieve a Zero Waste Scotland."

The Organics Capital Grant Scheme is worth £6 million over 3 years - £0.9 million in 2007-08, £2.15 million in 2008-09 and £3 million in 2009-10.

WRAP will provide up to 30 per cent of the capital cost of in-vessel composters (IVCs), anaerobic digesters (ADs) and thermophilic aerobic digesters (TADs). These plants are capable of treating organic waste (garden waste and food waste). By 2011, WRAP aim to have established an additional 125,000 tonnes of capacity in Scotland to treat organic waste.

In-vessel composting breaks down biodegradable waste using naturally occurring micro-organisms with oxygen to produce compost.

Anaerobic digestion is the breaking down of biodegradable waste by naturally occurring micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen. The outputs from AD plants include biogas (which can be used to generate electricity or heat); fibre (which can be used as a soil conditioner) and liquor (which can be used as a liquid fertiliser).

Thermophilic aerobic digestion breaks down biodegradable waste using a class of naturally abundant microbes that thrive at high temperature, in the presence of oxygen. It produces solid material which can be used in agriculture and some liquid material which can also be used as a liquid fertiliser.

The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign was launched to raise awareness of the environmental and economic significance of food waste and provide practical advice to householders on how to make the most of the food that they buy.

This campaign is a key part of the work ongoing to reduce food waste and achieve the targets set out in the Household Waste Prevention Action Plan (Scotland) to reduce the amount of food waste from Scottish households by 10,000 tonnes by 2008 and 15,000 tonnes by 2010.

The campaign has a strong focus on the simple and practical advice to avoid food waste. To help engage the public the campaign features four 'food waste champions' to share their experience and provide their hints and tips for reducing food waste.

Food waste facts and figures:

* Around 90 per cent of us don't realise the amount of food we throw away
* About a third of the food we buy is thrown in the bin and at least half of this could have been eaten
* Over £800 million worth of food is wasted by consumers in Scotland each year - an average of £366 per Scottish household;
* The main reasons we waste our food are that we cook or prepare too much food, food goes past its use-by date or we forget we have it;
* The main types of food wasted at home are fresh fruit and veg, meat and fish, bakery and bread products, and dairy products
* Around 650,000 tonnes of food waste is thrown out by Scottish households each year
* At the moment most of our food waste is sent to landfill where it emits harmful greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming
* Producing, transporting and storing food uses a lot of energy, water and packaging, which is all wasted if the food gets thrown away uneaten

New waste targets include:

* The amount of municipal waste being recycled or composted is to be increased to 60 per cent by 2020 and a new target of 70 per cent by 2025
* Landfill from municipal waste is to be reduced to five per cent by 2025
* No more than 25 per cent of municipal waste is to be used to generate energy by 2025 and large, inefficient incinerators are to be rejected

Related Information

http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap%5Fcorporate/funding/capital%5Fgrants/

http://www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk/