The UK Food Waste, is mostly dumped in a landfill in most countries where councils pay for it again in landfill tax. It is directly linked with local communities back here in the Dorset as Bournemouth council have given people the opportunity to recycle food waste. In the first two years of food waste collections, over 4,300 tons of food waste, an average of 8.4 tons per day was recycled.
This had a direct effect on the community at the time has the generated enough energy to power the whole recycling process as well as 300 households for an entire year. A liquid soil improver made from the food waste still has an impact today as it is spread on nearby farming land in Dorset & Hampshire. This photo-essay seeks to reveal how Bournemouth and its surrounding communities have come together to reduce the amount of food waste in the rubbish stream and increasing recycling. The process of the food waste composted by the Dorset and how it is made useful.
A Food Waste container or a Food Caddy that has been given to Bournemouth residents in order to reduce the amount of food waste in the rubbish stream and increasing recycling. Newspaper and rolls of liners can be used to line the kitchen caddy. This stage in the process affects the community as it gives them somewhere to deposit their food waste.
The Brown food caddy s left outside when it is full with food scraps next to the normal bins or the contents can be transferred to the outside Food Waste Container. They are picked up by the refuse collector at the same time as general rubbish from a Bournemouth resident’s home in small collection vehicles.
The food waste is collected using a new dual-compartment waste collection vehicles. The small collection vehicle delivers the food waste in the Eco at Christchurch. This stage in the process affects the community as it creates new jobs for the local people. In addition to meeting the ever-increasing demand for food waste recycling, the lorry helps to reduce the carbon emissions of Commercial Recycling because it is a Euro 6, class leader in low emissions and fuel consumption.
The food waste is delivered to Eco Sustainable Solutions, Christchurch, Dorset who offer disposable solutions and recycle green waste, wood waste, household waste, and soil. Normally it would be delivered to a landfill such as Sita Ltd in Dorset where different types of waste are dumped. The new collections save Bournemouth Council over £200k savings per year in treatment costs. Eco Sustainable Solutions is one of the UK’s leading organics recycling firm, annually processing 150,000 tons of material.
Each truck empties its food waste into this chamber in Christchurch. The food waste is a pile in each section until there is 30 tons of material in each section. The amount of trash in each truck depends on the amount of household in each area who use the food caddy. Each truck contains around 9 tons of food waste.
Each chamber (30 tons of food waste material) is then loaded onto one big vehicle. This is then delivered to an anaerobic digester in Dorchester (Eco Dorchester). This stage in the process affects the community by creating new jobs for the local people.
The food collected is deposited into Eco Sustainable Solutions, anaerobic digester. It holds up to 15,000 tons of organic waste, such as food waste, as well as up to 6,000 tons of pig slurry to create methane gas. The Anaerobic digester breaks down the food waste by heating it to a high temperature to ensure sterilization. It uses the food waste as a fuel to produce gas and electricity. The gas is used in a local mill that produces animal feed. The electricity is supplied to the national grid, providing enough current to power 1,200 homes in Bournemouth and other areas.
The delivered material is loaded directly into a hopper which feeds the food waste into a shredder the shredder shreds the material and removes any packaging. Any packaging found is separated then loaded into a skip. They are separated to ensure that a certain amount of energy can be extracted from the food waste.
The remaining food waste material is blended with some liquid to make a porridge textured material. The pre-treatment involves mixing the various feedstock elements together to ensure the right consistency and ratio.The material should also be screened for contaminants, such as plastic and grits at this stage.
The feedstock is then fed into Eco Sustainable Solutions, anaerobic digester. It holds up to 15,000 tons of organic waste, such as food waste, as well as up to 6,000 tons of pig slurry to create methane gas. The Anaerobic digester breaks down the food waste by heating it to a high temperature to ensure sterilisation. It uses the food waste as a fuel to produce gas and electricity.
The digestate produced is stored until it is required, and can be separated into liquid and solid fractions. Solid fractions can be processed further on site by being put into a composting operation for further processing or used directly on land. This material is fed into the digester tank. This tank has material constantly moving through it but the material will stay in the tank for about 40 days. While in the tank the material breaks down and produces methane, the methane is captured and used as fuel to power generators which produce electricity which is sold to the National Grid.
After the 40 days the material stops producing gas and it is then pasteurised (heated to 60 degrees) to kill harmful bacteria then put into storage tanks. The process produces a liquid soil improver which is spread on nearby farming land. From the storage tanks, it is applied to agricultural land as fertilizer.
The gas is used in a local mill that produces animal feed.The electricity is supplied to the national grid, providing enough current to power 1,200 homes in Bournemouth and other areas.
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