Retailers have been accused of producing far too much food waste in the past, but a Sainsbury’s store has found a way to directly use the waste that the superstore chain generates.
The Cannock store, in Staffordshire, already sends its waste to the largest anaerobic digestion plant in the UK where the methane gas given off by decomposing food is used to produce electricity for a few thousand homes.
However, the supermarket has now been linked directly with the power plant, and has become the first store in the UK to come off the national grid and be powered entirely by food waste.
A 1.5km cable runs directly to the store from the facility that is run by Biffa, and has enabled it to become completely powered by wasted food.
Sainsburys stores all over the country send their waste to anaerobic digestion plants if possible, if the food is unsuitable to go to food banks or to be turned into animal feed, and they recycle a huge amount of their non-food waste too.
Paul Crewe, head of sustainability at Sainsbury’s said: “We send absolutely no waste to landfill and are always looking for new ways to reuse and recycle. So we’re delighted to be the first business ever to make use of this linkup technology, allowing our Cannock store to be powered entirely by our food waste.”
