It is approaching three years since the UK's Waste Strategy 2007 set out the important contribution that anaerobic digestion (AD) could make to meet our waste management goals and yet it is perplexing to see that the industry still remains in its relative infancy.
As far back as 1999, the Landfill Directive introduced strict targets to drastically reduce the amount of biodegradable waste being sent to landfill. Given that food and garden waste makes up the most significant element of biodegradable waste, it is disappointing that the UK has taken so long to focus its efforts on alternative treatments.
Claire Brook is senior counsel in the Environment & Safety team at national law firm Dickinson Dees.
This together with the significant potential AD has to contribute to climate change and wider environmental objectives, as well as delivering renewable biogas, raises little doubt that we need a concerted effort to deliver adequate infrastructure to treat these relevant waste streams.
The Government has taken some steps towards kick-starting a major increase in AD in the UK. The introduction of banding under the Renewables Obligation Order 2009 – which allocates 2 ROCs/MWh for AD plants – and the injection of £10 million to support a number of AD demonstration projects has been a good start, but it will be the effectiveness of new measures in 2010 and beyond that will determine how quickly the industry is able to expand.
April 2010 should see such an incentive in the form of feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) for small-scale, low-carbon electricity, providing support for AD plants up to 5MW. Similarly, producers of biomethane which is injected into the gas grid will receive support from the renewable heat incentive (RHI). FiTs will also be retrospective – qualifying systems installed after 15 July 2009 will be eligible.
The devil will be in the yet-to-be-confirmed detail, but the FiT scheme, and particularly the price level, must be sufficient to spur AD development. A number of responses I have seen to the recent Government consultation on FiTs suggest that the 9p/kWh level (electricity only) for AD plants is too low.
Others fear that the failure of the Government to provide up-front capital schemes to assist investment could thwart the delivery of sufficient AD plants. FiTs have proven to be very successful in Europe, particularly Germany, and the UK must learn from this experience to ensure it produces its own successful scheme.
Another critical area to focus on is the need to increase the separate collection of household food waste. Through WRAP, the Government has recently funded some local authority trials, but very few local authorities have actually introduced separate collections. Again, the clock is ticking – the Waste Framework Directive 2008, to be implemented in the UK by December 2010, urges “the separate collection of bio-waste with a view to its composting and digestion and the treatment of biowaste in a way that fulfils a high level of environmental protection.''
Defra remains hesitant on this, stating that substantial collection costs for municipal food waste may mean that options other than AD have to be considered. But this seems rather defeatist – surely appropriately-sited transfer stations and other measures could be found to reduce the collection costs.
Whilst the supermarkets may be boasting of their use of AD, the industry should not have to rely solely on commercial food waste. What is more, simply feeding AD plants with ‘sell by date' and ‘BOGOF' food waste is not environmentally sustainable and we should not lose sight of the more important objective to reduce the amount of waste produced in the first place.
There are still a number of potential hurdles to overcome in order to develop a successful AD industry in the UK, not forgetting the planning and permitting issues that have to be addressed. However, the technology is a sound one, well proven in other European countries and with significant environmental benefits. As such, the Government must ensure it delivers the support the industry needs to take off at last.
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