Waste power for ready meal plant

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A ready meals factory is to be partially powered by energy produced from its own food waste, in what is believed to be a first for Wales.

The RF Brookes plant in Rogerstone, Newport, will use an anaerobic digester (AD) to transform food waste into heat, power and compost.

It is expected to create 10% of the firm's power and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7,500 tonnes a year.

The Welsh Assembly Government has given £500,000 towards the scheme.

It is hoped more plants will follow.

The factory, which employs 900 people and supplies chilled and frozen meals to shops including Marks and Spencer, will treat around 10,000 tonnes of waste per year.

RF Brookes site director Steve Evans said currently the food and packaging waste is either recycled or sent to landfill where it releases methane, a particularly damaging greenhouse gas, as it decomposes.

We've set a challenging target of sending zero waste to landfill by 2015 Steve Evans, RF Brookes

Instead, the AD will break down the waste quickly into gas which can then be used to provide power and heat.

The remaining organic material can be used to improve the quality of soil for agriculture or horticulture.

It is hoped the AD will be running by autumn next year.

"We've set a challenging target of sending zero waste to landfill by 2015 and also to investigate opportunities for obtaining energy from renewable sources," said Mr Evans.

"We are pleased that this initiative helps us to achieve both of these objectives."

He added that the company, which is owned by Premier Foods, was aware of the "importance, and relevance, of sustainability" and was also trying to cut down on the amount of packaging used in its products.

Clean energy

Announcing assembly government investment to help build the £5m AD, Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing, said the project will be a "wonderful example" of turning food waste into clean, renewable energy.

"Food waste is a major challenge for us all and it is vital that as well as minimising the amount of waste we create, we reduce the amount of that waste that goes to landfill," she said.

"This will make a vital contribution to reducing our carbon footprint.

Waste advisory body Wrap (Waste & Resources Action Programme), which worked with the assembly government to offer support for the AD, said it was an "exciting environmental development for Wales" and hoped more would follow.

"The Welsh Assembly Government has concluded that AD is by far the best environmental technology to tackle food waste, and has committed significant funds for us to award on their behalf, to help put the infrastructure in place across the country," WRAP Cymru Market Development Manager Peter Webster.

"We expect this to be the first of several plants to be established, and we have recently launched another programme of funding which will hopefully carry the initiative forward to 2014."