On 1 December 2020, Bracknell Forest Councillors discovered more about what happens to our kerbside food waste by visiting the Wallingford biogas facility which uses anaerobic digestion to treat 50,000 tonnes of food waste each year.
Our kerbside bins are emptied and the contents are taken to Longshot Lane where Grundon lorries carry 26 tonnes of food waste at a time to the Wallingford Plant. Here the bags are separated from the food by a machine and the food is treated, pasteurised, sifted and fed into five domed concrete and metal encased holding tanks called digesters which have to be fed every 4 hours to keep the biological process working smoothly.
The biogas generated by the digesters is converted into electricity in gas engines and then fed into the National Grid powering 4,600 homes every hour.
Conservative Borough Councillors visiting the Anaerobic Digestion Plant included: Mrs Dorothy Hayes, Tony Virgo, Michael Brossard, Mrs Sandra Ingham, Chris Turrell, John Harrison and Peter Heydon.