Food waste to generate electricity

New special blue wheelie bins have been issued to 60 food businesses in and around Ludlow so that kitchen scraps can be collected and converted into electricity and compost.

The free commercial food waste collection service will swing into action on Monday. It is the first scheme of its kind in the UK. The waste will be recycled at Ludlow’s biodigester which converts food scraps into electricity and compost. The initiative will lead to savings at local businesses which will not charged for the removal of their food waste. Normally businesses have to pay a surcharge.

On Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays a biodiesel-powered collection vehicle will empty the blue bins and take the food waste up to the biodigester. There the food waste will be converted into sterile solid and liquid soil conditioners heat and electricity.

Today Councillor Nick Barclay South Shropshire District Council’s lead member for environmental policy said: “Businesses in the food industry have shown great support for the scheme.