Severn Trent has started operations at its latest green gas plant in Roundhill near Stourbridge.
The plant will be able to turn almost 50,000 tonnes of food waste a year into renewable gas for use in homes and businesses.
The plant is Severn Trent’s second food waste anaerobic digestion plant, following on from the success of the existing plant in Coleshill which has been operating since 2015.
Chris Jellett, from Severn Trent, said: “We take food that can’t be eaten or used for any other purpose from local businesses and waste management companies and put it into huge vats that effectively digest it, like in your stomach, to produce biomethane which then goes through another process to be converted into gas suitable for injection into the network as a new source of renewable gas.
“The process also makes sure that the food waste doesn’t end up going to landfill, with any packaging that we remove at the plant sent for further energy recovery.”
The new Roundhill site has a permit to recycle 48,500 tonnes of packaged and unpackaged food waste a year.
Chris said: “The plant will produce enough renewable gas to heat 2,700 homes for a year and enough renewable electricity to power 1,700 homes.
“Renewable energy is a really growing area for us and we currently generate the equivalent of more than a third of the energy we use through renewable sources and have ambitions to increase that to 50% by 2020.”
