Food waste recycling - creating a circular economy

[Music] we produce a huge amount of food waste in the UK in fact 10 million tons every year 7 million tonnes of which comes from our homes but food waste isn't truly waste it's a valuable nutrient and energy rich resource if all this waster is recycled and the energy extracted we could power 1 million households with renewable electricity which is roughly the population of Birmingham in Bath and North East Somerset up to 35 teams are out early each morning collecting this food waste as part of the regular recycling collection service it's then taken to the Keynsham recycling demo a hive of activity where all other recycling materials are sorting the food waste is transferred into a much larger container and is then collected and delivered to Jena Co state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion facility in Avonmouth Jenna Co turns this organic waste into useful products such as nutrient-rich bio fertilizer and renewable energy in the form of biomethane and electricity [Music] the waist is tipped out in a specially designed reception where it will begin the energy extraction process it's not just domestic food waste that is processed Jenna Coe also processes food waste from commercial businesses in the region first it is fed into a shredder to break open the bags of waste before being transferred into two large mixing tanks here the waste is stirred with other liquid food waste to create a recipe controlled slurry mixture or soon that can be easily separated from any packaging the whole process works just like the human digestive system next it is fed into a rotary screen and Hammerman to remove plastic waste and to clean up the valuable energy rich organic soup all plastic waste is collected and sent away to an energy recovery plan nothing is wasted the energy-rich soup is pasteurized for an hour at 71 degrees centigrade to kill off any pathogens the soup then spends three weeks in large digesters where the anaerobic biological process creates a huge amount of biogas which bubbles off naturally this gas is transferred and stored in large spherical containers the solid material left behind is a nutrient-rich fertilizer which can be safely applied to farmland so everything you put in your food recycling box is valuable and will be put to good use not only is the biogas used to make electricity and heat to power the whole Jena cosine it is also used for Jena COEs electric fleet and the biogas powered by OB food waste collection drugs [Music] but the majority of the biogas is fed into the National Grid for use in 7,000 local homes around the region in fact the gas being used to cook these carrots could well have been produced with food waste recycled just a few weeks ago and so completing a circular economy keeping resources in use for as long as possible and extracting maximum value for a greener more sustainable living you [Music]

Channel: GENeco

Views: 68,834

Keywords: GENeco, circular economy, Bath, North East Somerset, North East Somerset council, food waste recycling, biogas, sustainable living, recycling, Bristol, food waste power, green electricity

Id: 2I8Tjb4Fy-Q

Length: 3min 45sec (225 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019