WASTE RECYCLING
New safety campaign shines light on keyworkers tackling food waste
WARRENS Emerald Biogas has launched a new food waste safety campaign to shine a light on its keyworkers and the hazardous jobs they do in tackling food waste.
The campaign features online safety tips and resources to help keep people and the environments in which they work, safe and healthy.
In recent weeks, food waste has become public enemy number one and an un- intended consequence of stockpiling it during the coronavirus crisis has led to an increase in avoidable waste.
As a result, keyworkers at Warrens Emerald Biogas have been tackling a mountain of food waste every day.
Jamie Burns, HSEQ Manager at the New- ton Aycliffe plant in County Durham, said: “At Warrens’ anaerobic digestion plant, we have already recycled more than 22,000 tonnes of food waste in the first quarter of this year. On a daily basis, this includes re- cycling food waste from local authorities, schools and businesses and converting it into green energy.
“The coronavirus outbreak has highlight- ed the importance of keeping everyone safe and our keyworkers have shown an incredible response during the COVID-19
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pandemic. Their outstanding effort to keep our essential services running de- serves to be celebrated.
“Our new campaign shines a light on the jobs our key workers do for everyone’s safety and highlights their dedication and commitment during this difficult time.
“The workers are not only under pressure to tackle the growing food waste moun- tain, but also deal with the health and safety hazards that come with it.
“Like many other sites the number one hazard on our site is workplace transport, especially with the large waste vehicles we receive, but there are many other un- seen dangers for our key workers too.”
Jamie explained that when food waste is anaerobically digested, the biogas pro- duced is primarily composed of methane and carbon dioxide, with lesser amounts of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, and other gases. Each of these gases has safety issues.
He added: “Biogas risks include explosion, asphyxiation, and hydrogen sulphide poi- soning. Due to these safety risks on site, we have a dedicated team of engineers and technical monitoring equipment which keep the site running safely, and all our operational workers and contractors
are trained and issued with gas monitors.
“The food waste that is delivered can con- tain all sorts of horrible pathogens such as e. Coli and Salmonella which is controlled though pasteurisation. This is the process of heating up the food wastes to 72 Cel- sius killing off these diseases.
“Where there is a plentiful food source, there is also a risk of leptospirosis which may be found in the urine of rats.
“Good hygiene has always been para- mount on the site and in the food waste industry in general, but the spread of coronavirus has now given the team something else to keep in mind.”
The team recently ran a campaign as part of its continual awareness training pro- gramme to ensure site workers remained vigilant to all the risks and continue to adopt good hygiene measures at work and at home.
Jamie said: “The culture at Warrens Emer- ald Biogas is on learning and engagement. Everyone no matter who they are on site is given the opportunity and is encouraged by management to voice any concerns or ideas they have to make improvements to the site’s processes.”
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