Having significantly increased our recycling rate over the last couple of years by recycling cardboard, paper, plastic, and many other materials found in our factory, we are now at the point where one of the biggest waste streams from our factory that is destined for landfill is food waste. We’re not talking much – it will be only about 50 kg a week, which is tiny when you consider that we make about 90 tonnes of muesli in a good week – but it is now significant and it’s time to do something about it. The sort of waste we’re talking about is spillages from our production line. Any ingredient that has hit the floor obviously must be disposed of so it is generally cereal flakes, dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

Over the last couple of years I’ve looked into various options for dealing with this waste but have come across obstacles at every turn. I offered it to local city farms as animal feed but most didn’t want it because of the strict regulations now governing animal feed. When I did find a farm willing to take it, actually getting it there became a logistical nightmare in terms of waste management exemptions, waste carriers licenses and waste transfer notes, so unfortunately it became impossible. I gave some to the Camley Street Natural Park which is just down the road from us so that they could try it as bird feed but apparently the birds weren’t impressed with our muesli and didn’t eat it. London Zoo and Fareshare both said that there was not enough waste for them to be interested. Composting it would not be easy because it was very dry and might have attracted pests and there was far too much for the wormeries to deal with. So when I was contacted by Cawleys, a waste management company that has tipping rights at an anaerobic digestion plant, I was hopeful that this may be the solution we were looking for.

Cawleys offered us a food waste collection service where they provide us with some compostable bags made out of cornstarch into which we put all our food waste. This includes any of our ingredients that are spilled onto the floor and also any food waste from the kitchen both raw and cooked. The bags get put into a big wheelie bin outside, also provided by Cawleys and for a small fee, they come and empty this bin once a week. They can also offer a service for pallet loads of packaged ingredients or products that may have to dispose of for quality reasons. Again for a small fee they will collect pallet loads of rejected food and take it for de-packaging and disposal by anaerobic digestion.

The advantage of anaerobic digestion is that it makes complete use of the feedstock. Bacteria break down the food releasing methane, which is collected and burned in a combined heat and power plant to generate electricity and steam or hot water. Any solid residues can be used as a soil conditioner and any liquid waste can be used as a fertiliser. So provided there is an outlet for all the wastes, there is no reason for any material to end up in landfill.

We are currently trialling out this service on one of our production lines and if it’s successful I will roll it out to all areas of the factory. So fingers crossed…