Norwich food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion plant run by a company called Biogen in Hertfordshire to be recycled. To put it simply, the food waste is put into giant sealed, oxygen-free tanks where it is gradually broken down to produce biogas and biofertilizer.
The biogas produced is fed back into the national grid to power our homes and buildings. The biofertilizer is used on agricultural farm land to enrich the soil.
Due to new technology at Biogen, they can now accept plastic bags if they are used to line kitchen caddies. Machinery separates the bags and liners from the food waste. Those bags and liners are then sent to the energy from waste plant to be turned into electricity.
Residents are encouraged to reuse existing plastic bags to line their kitchen caddy, such as bread bags which would otherwise be thrown away, or can continue to use compostable bags.
