Ealing claims to be the first London borough to turn all its food waste into organic fertiliser and generate renewable energy. The Council is sending several hundred tonnes of leftovers a month to an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Bedfordshire, following a successful trial. AD is a way of recycling food waste into green energy and organic fertiliser.
Keith Townsend, Ealing Council’s Executive Director of Environment and Customer Services, said: “We have signed up to this scheme as part of our commitment to being environmentally friendly, and tackling climate change.”
The Council has been collecting residents’ food leftovers since 2006 as part of the weekly recycling collection. In 2007 it began a six-month trial in partnership with waste management company Cawleys and BIOGEN. Cawleys handle the bulk collection of Ealing’s waste and deliver it to BIOGEN’s Bedfordshire based AD plant.
