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Committee estimates £10 billion of surplus food thrown away every year
Too much food waste, which could generate electricity in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants, continues to be dumped in landfill sites, according to a new report by MPs.
The report, entitled ‘Food waste in England’ published earlier this week by the House of Commons environment, food and rural affairs select committee, says “considerable” disparities in the waste services provided by councils means surplus food is not being consistently collected across the country.
It estimates that around £10 billion worth of surplus food is still thrown out every year in England.
According to evidence presented to the committee by Bio Collectors, which collects food waste for use in AD, many plants are under-used with many operating at around 50 per cent capacity.
As a result, food that should be sent for AD according to the hierarchy of how waste should be treated, is instead being incinerated or dumped, says the committee.
“Food waste that could be turned into energy through anaerobic digestion is being sent further down the waste hierarchy. We are sending waste to landfill that could help power the National Grid and could provide a good agricultural fertiliser.”
The committee recommends that the incoming government should work closely with WRAP and councils to ensure that separate food waste collections are offered to as many households as possible across England.
However the committee also heard criticism about the use of food waste in AD plants..
The TV chef and environmentalist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall told the MPs that using out of date foodstuffs for energy was “wrong” on ethical and practical grounds.
He said: “When we know there are hungry people, the idea of making electricity out of food when we could be feeding people, feels wrong. But actually scientifically it’s the wrong thing to do, because the energy recovery from AD is pathetic, compared to the energy recovered by people eating food.”
Fearnley-Whittingstall was backed up by food charity Foodshare which called for tax incentives for businesses to redistribute surplus food to people in need rather than turning it into energy or animal feed.
The committee’s chair Neil Parish MP, said: “Once it is thrown away the best way of dealing with food waste is to recycle it by sending it to anaerobic digestion or composting. The worst way to deal with it is to send it for disposal through waste incineration without energy recovery or to send it to landfill.”
Responding to the report, Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association chief executive Charlotte Morton, agreed with the committee that it was a “scandal” that so much food was being thrown away.
She said: “Once it is thrown away the best way of dealing with food waste is to recycle it by sending it to anaerobic digestion or composting. The worst way to deal with it is to send it for disposal through waste incineration without energy recovery or to send it to landfill.”
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