Recycling food and green waste: composting and anaerobic digestion

Food and green waste make up a large share of what businesses throw away, and much of it could be recycled and put back to use rather than sent to landfill.

In-vessel composting

In-vessel composting uses bioreactor technology to break organic material down inside enclosed tanks, under controlled conditions. The result is a compost or soil conditioner that can go back onto land. Keeping the process enclosed gives better control over temperature and odour than open windrows.

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion processes biosolids and animal waste without oxygen, producing both a digestate that can be used as fertiliser and biogas that can be captured for energy. For the right feedstock and scale, it turns a disposal problem into two useful outputs.

The point is recovery

Whichever route fits, the principle is the same as the rest of our work: biodegradable waste does not have to be a cost. Processed properly, it becomes mulch, soil conditioner or fertiliser, and a business improves its environmental performance at the same time.