Addressing delegates at the national conference of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association in London yesterday (December 14), Mr Timson said the retailer has recently pledged to send zero food waste to landfill(see letsrecycle.com story) and he called on the AD industry to be more flexible to meet the demands of the commercial sector.
Mr Timson noted: Working with AD providers has been a challenge and since we started in 2008 we have learned a lot from each other.
I think that from our perspective, there needs to be a greater consideration for the customer. Many of them are 365 day-a-year businesses and would expect the same level of service from their suppliers. Working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday is unacceptable and operating on bank holidays is crucial.
The supermarket chain signed a three-year dealwith Biffa in Octoberto send all of the retailer’s food waste to AD, in a move that was welcomed by both parties.
Flexibility
He also stressed that many retailers were reluctant to commit to large feedstock agreements and wanted to know that backup facilities were available in the event of system crashes. It is unrealistic to expect customers to sign up to long term fixed rate contracts, there must be more flexibility. Contingency plans must also be available in case of plant failure. If one plant is out of action then there should be some sort of backup plan to ensure service is not disrupted.
Earlier in the day, the conference also heard from minister for energy and climate change Charles Hendry, who backed the AD industry as an integral part of our energy security and pledged that DECC would provide clarity over energy-from-waste policy in the coming months.
He said: The greatest enemy to investment is uncertainty. What we need to do in the next few months is provide the long term clarity, so that there is clarity in the future about regulations that will work and how they will apply.
Landfill
The minister was also questioned on whether the government would consider banning food waste from landfill, but Mr Hendry said that policy concerning food waste would be left down to local authorities to decide.
Our intention is not to ban food waste from landfill, but the cost of landfill is certainly steering people away in many cases. Our intention is to let local authorities decide on local strategies, what might work in a rural area would not necessarily work in an urban area, and what we dont want is too much top down instruction on how to work, he said.
ADBA Chairman Lord Redesdale welcomed the ministers pledge to provide clarity on EfW policy. He said: The ministers engagement with the issues around AD is very welcome: particularly his recognition that DECC can and should do more to provide clarity and certainty to investors. Getting funding for AD plants remains a real challenge for the industry, and fears about future government policy have been a major cause of this.
Ian Nolan, development director of UK Green Investments, Departments for Business Innovation and Skills, also spoke at the event, and informed delegates that the Green Investment Bank would only look to invest in AD projects if they were financially viable.
He said: We want to give a nudge to the projects that are nearly commercially viable, but not quite able to secure the private investment that they need to go ahead. There is no single measure to see how green one project is compared to another, so we will judge each project on an individual basis, and identify the most financially viable and attractive projects.
Register for free to comment