SUSTAINABLE CATERING GOODBYE TO TRADITIONAL C
atering firms serving some of the UK’s top independent schools – including
Gordonstoun, Bryanston and Wellington have said
goodbye and good riddance to traditional food waste disposal. In doing so, they have not only saved themselves huge amounts of money in waste collection costs, but have created a significant income-generating and energy-saving opportunity.
The transformation has come about from steadily feeding food waste into a BioNova Accelerated Aerobic BioDigester, which, in just 72 hours, turns it into a nutrient and energy-rich material that can be used as a soil enhancer or better still as a biofuel for a biomass boiler; effectively giving free on-site hot water and free on-site heating. Anyone with an eye for the
environment will quickly realise that not only is food not being sent to landfill, but it is also being recycled on site, eliminating the need for heavy goods vehicle journeys. “Quick, on-site organic waste going into a Biodigester is proper joined-up- thinking“, says Clive Tayton, BioNova’s Managing Director. “This is the way forward – not chucking more and more waste into the backs of more and more HGVs to create even more exhaust fumes”.
This way forward has been embraced by Moto, the UK’s market leader in motorway service areas, who, on the M5 in Exeter, have successfully decreased the amount of waste collected for landfill, despite increased sales from the presence of outlets such as M&S Simply Food, Costa and Burger King. Moto’s Area General Manager, Sara Davies, explains: “At Moto we sort and separate cans, glass, plastics, detergent and chemicals”, she said, “so in addition to our compactor (for cardboard) it was a natural progression to also look at the most effective way we could reduce sending food waste to landfill”. She added: “The cost-savings with BioNova are significant and there is the added benefit of having our food waste recycled on site. Introducing a biomass boiler and then utilising the material from the Digester for heating and hot water is also an option”.
In keeping with Moto’s pro-active and ongoing environmental commitment to sort and separate its waste, BioNova’s
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BioDigester processes food waste - the largest element of unwanted material – at a very energy efficient £6 per tonne. According to Tayton, energy usage is a key factor often left out of the spotlight by some selling environmental technology – with many choosing not to factor in high energy costs into the full equation. Odour-free, the BioDigester requires 1,000 litres and upwards (no limit) of organic waste per week, and is fully compliant with landfill and ABPR (Animal By-Products) regulations relating to organic and process food waste. A BioNova Biodigester has also helped a bakery business in the South West make savings of around £50k pa. Until recently, trucks would arrive twice per week at the bakery’s two processing plants
to take away around 20 tonnes of food waste.
Unwanted organic waste from the manufacture of pasties, pies and cakes – plus waste from the company’s 12 retail outlets – would be sent by road to a waste-to-energy plant – at a removal cost approaching £4,000 per month. But now, waste can be treated on-site, where it is reduced to just 20-25% of its volume. Far from paying for it to be taken away, the resulting by-product generates income for the bakery; sold on at approximately £120 per tonne as fuel pellets for Biomass heating. The renewable energy quality of the waste is so good though that the bakery is now looking to invest in its own energy-efficient biomass burners so that it can use its
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