Emerald Biogas based in Newton Aycliffe, are the North East of England's first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility. Working with the private and public sector we are committed to recycling and reusing the region’s food waste to generate electricity, heat and biofertiliser. With proven expertise in the recycling and renewables industry you can be assured that your waste is being treated in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly way.

1. Welcome to the launch of the North East’s
first commercial food waste anaerobic
digestion facility

2. Agenda
1000: Guest arrival and welcome refreshments
1045: Welcome - Janet Street-Porter
Emerald Biogas: The Overview – Antony Warren, Emerald Biogas
Defra – Jayne Winter, RDPE Area Manager (North East)
Emerald Biogas: The Solution - Adam Warren and Ian Bainbridge, Emerald Biogas
Key Note Speech – Janet Street-Porter
BBC Video
School Engagement – Esther Brown, Emerald Biogas
1230: Lunch
1330: Site tours
1400: Event closes

3. Emerald Biogas – The Overview
Antony Warren

4. The Business
• Formed in 2009
• Partnership between:
• John Warren ABP – Waste Management &
Recycling Business
• Agricore – Farming, Land & Resource Management
Business

5. John Warren ABP
• Family-owned and founded in 1946
• Three generations of waste management experience
• Services the entire agricultural sector
• Now offers a food waste collection service for Emerald
Biogas

6. Agricore
• New company derived from J&S Bainbridge
• Three key services:
• plasterboard waste management and recycling facility
producing gypsum
• agricultural services including contract farming and
land management
• supply and distribution of digestate from Emerald
Biogas

7. Why Anaerobic Digestion?
• Harnessing our proven combined knowledge and
experience
• Opportunity to address growing food waste crisis
• Transferring our skills to support the renewable energy
agenda
• Long term investment supporting the local economy

8. The Plant
• The £8m facility is the North East’s first commercial food
waste AD plant
• Our specific location will fully optimise the green energy
• Neighbouring businesses will utilise the heat generated
• Overall accessibility enables us to process waste from
• Northumberland to York
• Cumbria to Teesside

9. Phase 1
• Now fully operational, we will process 50,000 tonnes of
food waste annually
• We can collect and recycle waste from:
• food manufacturers
• restaurants & hotels
• leisure & retail outlets
• local authorities & civic amenities

10. Our Waste Streams
• Working with high-profile organisations such as:
• Greggs
• SK Chilled Foods
• Vale of Mowbray
• Greencore
• LIDL
• Marks and Spencers
• Various waste management companies such as
Biffa, JB Recycling, Premier, Refood, Sita, Veolia

11. Looking Ahead
• Long-term plan to grow the business creating more
jobs
• Planning permission secured to quadruple the site
• Plans to diversify into the residential food waste
market
• Increase our activities with local authorities

13. Supporting Rural Communities
Defra and Emerald Biogas
Jayne Winter

14. Rural Development Programme
The current 7 year Programme for England for 2007
to 2013 will have spent £3.8bn...
• Improving the environment £3.2bn
• Rural growth and communities £370m
• Farm competitiveness, forestry £290m
70% of England farmland under an agri-environment scheme
96% of SSSIs now in favourable or recovering condition
10,000ha of new woodland created
18,000 rural and farming jobs created or safeguarded
15,000 rural and farming businesses have been supported
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15. The Food Waste Challenge
• 15m tonnes of food waste produced every year, half of
that from households
• Preventing food waste is the best option. Avoidable
food waste costs an average of £470 per household
• However, some food waste unavoidable and AD is the
best option we have for such waste.
• Every tonne of food waste sent to AD rather than
landfill saves the equivalent of about 500 kilogrammes
of CO2
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16. Why Anaerobic Digestion?
• Coalition commitment to promote “a huge increase in
the energy from waste produced from anaerobic
digestion”
• Government applies the waste hierarchy: prevention
and reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal
• Anaerobic digestion „generally the best option
available for dealing with separately collected food
waste‟
• Published the Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action
Plan in June 2011
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17. How is government supporting AD?
• AD Strategy and Action Plan addresses 8 priority areas:
– Improving our understanding of the AD baseline
– Building UK skills
– Building safe and secure markets for digestate
– Raising awareness of AD
– Building markets for biomethane and transport fuels
– AD in the rural community
– Finance
– Regulation
• Combination of research, investment and facilitation to help this
emerging market
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18. Progress and successes
• £10m loan fund administered by WRAP
• £3m of fund allocated for small-scale on farm AD
• Original estimate was that the industry could grow 3-5
times by 2020
• Since strategy was launched in 2011, the number of
plants has grown from 54 to more than 120, with
around a further 200 sites with planning permission
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19. How have we supported Emerald?
• £850,000 of loan funding through the WRAP
administered scheme, with further loans agreed in
principle
• £1.9m of Rural Development Programme for England
funding (part EU and part Defra).
• Benefits:
– Reduction in food waste
– Additional jobs in rural areas – at least 8 roles
– Centre of expertise in emerging technology in the
North East
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20. New Rural Development Programme
The new Programme is a major opportunity to invest in
the rural economy and environment
• Improve the environment;
• Promote strong rural economic growth; and
• Increase the productivity and efficiency of farming and
forestry businesses
... building on the successes of the current Programme
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21. Support for rural business in the future
Local Enterprise Partnerships will spend RDPE money
alongside other EU funding
Guidance to LEPs set out four types of activities that
can be funded with RDPE:
1. Building knowledge and skills in rural areas;
2. Funding new and developing micro, small and
medium sized rural business;
3. Funding small scale renewable and broadband
Investments in rural areas; and
4. Support for tourism activities in rural areas
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23. Emerald Biogas – The Solution
Adam Warren

24. A Growing Concern
Every year:
• 15m tonnes of food waste is sent to landfill
• £6.9bn of food waste is produced by the UK’s grocery
& food manufacturing sector
• £15bn of food is thrown away by UK households
• Our region generates over 800,000 tonnes of food
waste

25. What Can We Do?
Traditional disposal methods:
• Food waste is not segregated = larger waste volumes for
the collector
• Collection charges are based on weight = very high
• Waste is typically taken to landfill, a MRF or an
incinerator
• No opportunity to convert waste into a valuable
commodity

26. What Is The Alternative?
Food waste collection:
• Segregating food waste = reduced weight and reduced
cost
• Collection frequency can also be reduced, again
reducing cost
• Opportunity to transform the waste into a valuable
commodity and new product

27. Our Offer
• Our all-encompassing service:
• begins with the initial waste collection
• the recycling of the food waste
• the supply of energy to the national grid
• and ends with the supply of digestate
• Most importantly we can save money and help you
meet environmental targets

28. How Does Our Plant Work?
• The facility effectively recycles food waste and any
associated packaging
• We can process card and plastics from:
• supermarkets
• fast food outlets
• businesses
• schools

29. The AD Process
• It removes all traces of plastic, glass and metal
• The waste is added to the buffer tank
• Pasteurisation takes place
• The waste is then added to the digestion tank

30. The AD Process
• AD then occurs – a natural biological process
• Millions of bacteria ‘feed’ on the waste
• A methane-rich biogas is produced and converted into
energy
• Finally, the digestate is added to the post digester tank

32. Emerald Biogas – The Products
Ian Bainbridge

33. Location, Location, Location
• Newton Aycliffe = ideal platform for efficient use and
distribution of our products
Why?
• Existing high quality road and industrial infrastructure
• Surrounded by local farmland

34. Our Products
The AD process creates valuable new commodities
• Biogas – methane and CO2 = renewable energy:
• electricity generation
• heat production
• Digestate = nitrogen rich fertiliser

35. The Biogas
• Our biogas is burned using CHP technology
• It produces 1.56MW electricity per hour
• Supplied to the National Grid
• Enough energy to power 2,000 homes
• Excess heat will be used by businesses at Aycliffe
Business Park

36. The Digestate
• A valuable biofertiliser derived from the waste
treatment process
• High in nutrients, readily absorbed by crops, it
comprises Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash
• We will supply 50,000 tonnes to landowners within a
10 mile radius

37. Supply & Demand
Emerald Biogas can fulfill all aspects of this ‘journey’
• Food waste collection managed by JW ABP
• Recycling and new product generation managed by
Emerald Biogas
• Distribution of digestate managed by Agricore
Our vision is to ensure the plant contributes to a
sustainable, circular economy

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