Food waste partnership to fuel Darlington homes

A County Durham council partnership will see household food waste converted into renewable energy to help power local homes and businesses.

Bio Capital has partnered with Darlington Borough Council to process food waste collected from more than 54,000 homes across the borough.

The waste will be taken to Bio Capital’s Warrens Emerald Biogas facility in Newton Aycliffe, the first bespoke anaerobic digestion plant in the North East of England.

There, it will be converted into renewable energy for local homes and businesses, creating a circular process in which household food waste is reused close to where it is produced.

The anaerobic digestion process also creates compressed natural gas, a low-carbon biofuel for vehicles, while the remaining material becomes nutrient-rich organic biofertiliser for local farmland.

The partnership will help Darlington Borough Council meet new Simpler Recycling requirements for separate household food waste collections while reducing transport emissions through local processing.

Iain Pickles, head of commercial at Bio Capital, said: “We’re proud to be working with Darlington Borough Council on something that feels genuinely significant. 

“Simpler Recycling has brought households into this system in a way we haven’t seen before, the scale of participation is new, and that means the scale of impact can be too.

“Food waste has always had value. 

“In Darlington, that value doesn't stop at the gate of our facility. 

“It goes, back into homes and businesses, and back into the farmland that feeds communities. 

“We’re excited to work with Darlington on this truly circular approach.”

Libby McCollom, Darlington Council’s cabinet member for local services, added: “I am delighted that residents, businesses and local farms can directly benefit from the introduction of food waste recycling in Darlington.

“At the same time as starting food waste collections, we have also simplified our general recycling collection and made them weekly, making it as easy as possible for residents to recycle more.”

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