Innovation UK > News > Innovation News > Staffordshire farm hailed for its sustainable diversification

A Staffordshire farm is being held up as a model of sustainable diversification after opening a £3m anaerobic digestion plant on the property.

The plant will supply 1.3MW of energy to the National Grid every year (enough for 1,300 homes) as well as providing a way of dealing with up to 30,000 tonnes of food waste.

The waste will come from the local council?s kerbside food collections, supermarkets and food manufacturers.

The plant can also process maize-based silage and pig slurry from the farm.

The facility will also produce a nutrient rich bio-fertiliser that will be used to replace conventional fertilisers and soil conditioners, which are manufactured using fossil fuels.

Lower Reule Bioenergy has been supported by a £750,000 grant from government waste reduction initiative WRAP.

The biogas from the AD plant will be burned in a combined heat and power plant, with the heat to be used to extend the growing season for crops on the farm - either strawberries or asparagus.

Trevor Nicoll, Head of Waste Strategy at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said: "We?ve had a great response to our separate collections of food and garden waste with recycling rates jumping from 27% to 53% in the month they were introduced.

"One of the reasons for this tremendous support is that people understand how their food waste is being recycled in the local area to create valuable resources and they are very supportive of the scheme."

Richard Scrase