Gwynedd Council’s innovative project to develop an anaerobic digestion facility to process around 11,000 tonnes of food waste each year has taken an important step forward as the Welsh Government has given the green light to moving ahead with the project.
The Council will now work together with specialist company BiogenGreenfinch, who will be responsible for building and operating the cutting edge facility, to finalise detailed plans for the GwyriAD project on the Llwyn Isaf site near Clynnog Fawr. It is expected that the facility will be operational by the summer of 2013.
The GwyriAD anaerobic digestion (AD) facility will treat the food waste and this natural process will produce natural biofertiliser which will be used on agricultural land, and electricity which can be sold to the national grid.
Councillor Gareth Roberts, Gwynedd Council’s Senior Portfolio Leader for the Environment said:
“This is great news for Gwynedd – it will be an example for others to follow and notes a new era in waste management where we are leading the field. The innovative GwyriAD project which will likely be the first AD facility delivered by a Welsh Council underlines our aim of finding creative and green solutions to deal with our waste.
“Residents throughout Gwynedd have shown their commitment to recycling, re-using and composting more of their waste. This exciting project will ensure that Gwynedd’s food waste – which will be collected on a weekly basis in communities across Gwynedd in the coming months – can be treated in a more efficient way within the county.”
When up and running, the GwyriAD facility will deal with approximately 200 tonnes of food waste on a weekly basis. The AD process will produce approximately 9,000 tonnes of biofertiliser which will be used on agricultural land. It will also produce enough green electricity to power around 700 houses annually – that’s the equivalent of a village around the size of Penygroes. The electricity generated will be sold back to the grid.
Councillor Arwel Pierce, who leads on Highways and Municipal matters for Gwynedd Council added:
“The GwyriAD project will not only reduce the amount of food waste we send to be landfilled, the process used to treat the waste will also create a natural biofertiliser which can be used on the land as well as being a source of renewable energy to create electricity.
“This new and modern facility will help Gwynedd to reduce the amount of unnecessary waste sent to landfill sites. It will be a great step forward for the county’s environment and mean that the Council will continue to meet the challenging recycling and composting targets for the coming years.”
Richard Barker, CEO of BiogenGreenfinch said, “We are proud and delighted to have been selected to build what will be the first anaerobic digestion facility in Wales specifically designed to take Local Authority collected food waste. We, together with our funders Iona, look forward to working with Gwynedd Council over the next 15 years to make this project both an environmental and operational success.”
A detailed planning application for the facility at Llwyn Isaf has been presented to the Council’s Planning Department.
For more information about all Gwynedd Council’s waste and recycling collection services, call the team of 01766 771000 or visit the website www.gwynedd.gov.uk/recycling
