The facility, which is being built under the project name GwyriAD, is due to be operational by the summer of 2013. Once up and running it will have the capacity to process up to 11,000 tonnes of food waste every year producing enough electricity to power 700 households.
Feedstock for the plant will come from local businesses and households. The council are in the process of rolling out food waste caddies to households throughout the county. At present any food waste collected is sent to in-vessel composting sites in Harlech, Penhesgyn and Anglesey.
The facility has yet to gain planning permission but a planning application has been presented to the councils planning department.
Commenting on the facility Councillor Arwel Pierce, portfolio leader on highways and consultancy, said: The GwyriAD project will not only reduce the amount of food waste we send to be landfilled, the process used to treat the waste will also create a natural biofertiliser which can be used on the land as well as being a source of renewable energy to create electricity.
It will be a great step forward for the countys environment and mean that the council will continue to meet the challenging recycling and composting targets for the coming years.
The project will be funded by BiogenGreenfinchs investment partner Iona Capital. This is the first in a series of investments across Wales expected by the partnership.
BiogenGreenfinch
BiogenGreenfinch currently operates 15 AD plants in the UK including three which process food waste in Shropshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
Commenting on the companys latest development Richard Barker, chief executive of BiogenGreenfinch, said: We are proud and delighted to have been selected to build what will be the first anaerobic digestion facility in Wales specifically designed to take local authority collected food waste. We, together with our funders Iona, look forward to working with Gwynedd council over the next 15 years to make this project both an environmental and operational success.
BiogenGreenfinch has other facilities in the pipeline including a 45,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant at Bygrave Lodge Farm, Hertfordshire which was granted planning permission in June 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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