Food wastage is a big problem – but what if this could be turned into big business?

One supermarket in the UK is turning around the fortunes of the nation’s rubbish and actually making something very useful out of it…electricity!

The Sainsbury’s superstore in Staffordshire has been working with the waste management team at Biffa to work out a way that food waste can be converted. The project has just launched and what’s truly brilliant about it is that all they have to do is let the food rot.

So how does it work?

The food waste gets stored in oxygen free silos. This means that bacteria that thrives without oxygen gets busy with a process called anaerobic digestion. Biomethane (a natural gas) is then used to convert the whole lot into electricity which gets directed back over to Sainsburys. Food Waste into Food Waste Power!

Head of sustainability at Sainsbury’s, Paul Crewe says:

We’re delighted to be the first business ever to make use of this link-up technology, allowing our Cannock store to be powered entirely by our food waste.

Let’s hope this is the start of more initiatives like this. In fact, be sure to check out OUR new project.

Learn more about Sainsbury’s here.

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Written by Pippa Woodhead
Being a health-nut, London born Pippa has struggled to adjust to the lack of availability of lettuce and kale since re-locating to India. Previously naive to the extent of the worlds food struggles, she has now become obsessed with sustainability in food production and especially in India where it needs it the most (plus she’s also hoping to get her hands on some kale any day now). When she’s not writing for Aquaponics in India, she is usually found with her head in a book or in the kitchen experimenting with new vegetarian recipes.