Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has become the UK's largest retail user of anaerobic digestion after signing a deal with Biffa to send food waste to AD plants around the country.  

The deal will see food waste collected from the chain’s distribution centres across the UK, and then processed to produce renewable energy to power homes and businesses. On signing the deal, Sainsbury’s said it had taken a long time to arrange the deal due to difficulty finding a lack of facilities in the UK.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said, “The new contract means our food waste is being put to the best possible use.” In the UK, anaerobic digestion is usually limited to small on-farm units, but it is experiencing growth.

Every year, the UK throws away around 15 million tonnes of food waste nd it is thought that around half of this comes from businesses. Much of this food waste is currently sent to landfill sites where it breaks down into methane and carbon dioxide, both powerful greenhouse gases that contribute significantly to climate change.