Sainsbury’s store in Cannock, U.K., will be the first to disconnect from the grid, using electricity generated entirely by its own food waste.
Using Biffa’s advanced anaerobic digestion facilities and a unique power link up, the store will be powered using electricity generated using food waste from Sainsbury’s stores across the U.K.
This ground-breaking project helps close the loop on food recycling and Sainsbury’s, which as a company sends zero operational waste to landfills, the company reported.
Here’s how it works. Any food waste that is unsuitable for charitable donations or animal feed is sent to anaerobic digestion at Biffa to be converted to energy. The food waste is turned into bio-methane gas, which is then used to generate electricity at the Biffa plant. Electricity the store is directly supplied via a newly constructed 1.5 kilometer long electricity cable.
The new power, built in partnership with Biffa, means the Cannock store will come off the National Grid for day-to-day electricity consumption.
Sainsbury’s is already the U.K.’s largest retail user of anaerobic digestion, generating enough energy to power 2,500 homes each year.
