Emerald Biogas Ltd the North East’s first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility.

Emerald Biogas – The Overview Kevin Quigley – Business Development Manager.

The Business Formed in 2009 Partnership between: John Warren ABP – Waste Management & Recycling Business Agricore – Farming, Land & Resource Management Business

John Warren ABP Family-owned and founded in 1946 Three generations of waste management experience Services the entire agricultural sector Now offers a food waste collection service for Emerald Biogas

Agricore New company derived from J&S Bainbridge Three key services: plasterboard waste management and recycling facility producing gypsum agricultural services including contract farming and land management supply and distribution of digestate from Emerald Biogas

Why Anaerobic Digestion? Harnessing our proven combined knowledge and experience Opportunity to address growing food waste crisis Transferring our skills to support the renewable energy agenda Long term investment supporting the local economy

The Plant The £8m facility is the North East’s first commercial food waste AD plant Our specific location will fully optimise the green energy Neighbouring businesses will utilise the heat generated Overall accessibility enables us to process waste from Northumberland to York Cumbria to Teesside

Phase 1 Now fully operational, we will process 50,000 tonnes of food waste annually We can collect and recycle waste from: food manufacturers restaurants & hotels leisure & retail outlets local authorities & civic amenities

Looking Ahead Long-term plan to grow the business creating more jobs Planning permission secured to quadruple the site Plans to diversify into the residential food waste market Increase our activities with local authorities

A Growing Concern Every year: 15m tonnes of food waste is sent to landfill £6.9bn of food waste is produced by the UK’s grocery & food manufacturing sector £15bn of food is thrown away by UK households Our region generates over 800,000 tonnes of food waste

What Can We Do? Traditional disposal methods: Food waste is not segregated = larger waste volumes for the collector Collection charges are based on weight = very high Waste is typically taken to landfill, a MRF or an incinerator No opportunity to convert waste into a valuable commodity

What Is The Alternative? Food waste collection: Segregating food waste = reduced weight and reduced cost Collection frequency can also be reduced, again reducing cost Opportunity to transform the waste into a valuable commodity and new product

The AD Process It removes all traces of plastic, glass and metal The waste is added to the buffer tank Pasteurisation takes place The waste is then added to the digestion tank