Severn Trent Green Power excels during lockdown

Severn Trent Green Power has revealed that it generated enough electricity from food waste during the national lockdown to power 12,000 homes for a year.

Between April and July, teams based at eight anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in the Midlands, Oxfordshire, South Wales and London generated 50,000MWh of electricity from 127,300 tons of food waste.

As the nation stayed at home, the food waste specialists saw a 17% jump in domestic food waste arriving at its depots compared to the same time last year, which it converted into green energy.

Severn Trent Green Power has released these figures to coincide with Recycle Week 2020 and this year’s theme is about thanking the nation for continuing to recycle, despite the challenges Covid-19 has presented.

All eight Green Power sites remained open between April and July, so they could process any food waste that arrived at their door, providing reassurance to local authorities they had somewhere to go with their collections.

Severn Trent Green Power commercial director Pamela Lloyd said: “I’d like to echo the theme of this year’s Recycle Week and thank everyone at home for continuing to think about what they can recycle. Whether it’s plate scrapings or food otherwise destined for landfill, its environmental value is huge, which we use to decarbonise our energy networks.

“Although we saw a drop in the amount of food waste coming from places like pubs and restaurants, it was great to see residents recycling even more of their food than normal. We kept our doors open throughout the national lockdown, so food waste at home could continue to be recycled.”

She added: “By remaining open, we wanted to play our part in a green post-Covid recovery, helping the country to fulfil its environmental obligations for a cleaner and greener future.”