Agriculture and Food: Waste

(asked on 23rd November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential for farm conversion of agri-food bio-wastes into bioenergy in the UK.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 1st December 2021

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. We are interpreting this question as a request for information on the Government’s assessment of the role that anaerobic digestion (AD) can play in both treating food wastes and generating bioenergy.

I recognise the valuable contribution that wastes, including food derived wastes, can make towards our carbon targets when used in AD to produce biogas and biomethane.

The recently closed non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (NDRHI) provided financial support for AD plants, including on farms. As of December 2020, the NDRHI has supported 95 biomethane to grid plants and in 2019 supported the production of ~3.6TWh of biomethane injected into the gas grid. In 2018, the NDRHI changed to include a waste feedstock minimum threshold of 50%, to incentivise the use of wastes in the production of biomethane. The Green Gas Support Scheme, due to launch on 30 November 2021, is a successor to the biomethane element of the NDRHI and will maintain this minimum threshold.

Evidence indicates that the existing stock of AD plants, including on farms, may have the capacity to treat more food waste. As such, we are assessing the potential to increase waste that goes to AD.

Reticulating Splines