Work completed on Wales largest food waste AD

The Waen facility, which Biogen says is the largest food waste anaerobic digestion facility in Wales, has the capacity to treat 22,500-tonne-a-year of food waste a year and generate 1MW of renewable electricity for the national grid. It will also produce digestate which the company intends to supply to nearby farmers as fertiliser.

The food waste is being sent to the plant from a consortium of Denbighshire, Conwy and Flintshire local authorities, all of which carry out weekly food waste collections from residents and businesses. This is taking place under a 15 year contract, signed between the local authorities and Biogen in October 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, the plant will also take some food waste from local businesses.
Construction work on Waen, located on the site of a former abattoir, began in July 2013, taking around 12 months to complete.

Funding

Funding for Waen plant came from Biogen and equity firm Iona Capital (see letsrecycle.com story).

Julian ONeill, chief executive of Biogen, said: We are delighted that construction of the plant was completed on time and within budget. Were very happy to be working in partnership with Denbighshire county council, Conwy county borough council and Flintshire county council to help the authorities, and Wales as a whole, lead the way in recycling food waste to create green energy.

The Waen plant and our other projects in Wales and in England are making a significant contribution to the target of meeting 15 per cent of the UKs energy demand through renewable sources by 2020.

The Waen AD plant is the Biogens fourth operational plant in the UK, bringing the total amount of waste processed across all Biogen sites to more than 150,000 tonnes per year.

Denbighshire

Sam Bates, waste operations manager at Denbighshire county council, said: We are very proud of the AD plant and also pleased that residents across the three counties will have access to the scheme. Well be encouraging householders to make full use of the kitchen caddies with the knowledge that their food waste is being put to such good use to create renewable energy.

Other food waste AD plants in Wales include Biogens 11,000 tonne-a-year capacity GwyriAD plant and In Source Energys 18,000 tonne AD plant in Newport.

While the Waen facility is large for Wales, there are several food waste AD plants in England with a much larger capacity including Biffas 120,000-tonne-a-year capacity site at Cannock in Staffordshire (see letsrecycle.com story).