Using Biffa’s advanced anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities and a unique power link up, Sainsbury’s Cannock store will be powered using electricity generated using food waste from Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
This ground-breaking project helps to close the loop on food recycling and Sainsbury’s to continue to send zero operational waste to landfill.
How it works
- Sainsbury’s send zero operational waste to landfill. Any food waste that is unsuitable for charitable donations or animal feed is sent to anaerobic digestion at Biffa to be converted to energy
- This remaining food waste is collected from Sainsbury’s supermarkets around the UK using Sainsbury’s delivery lorries. It is returned to Biffa’s plant in Cannock
- The food waste is turned into bio-methane gas, which is then used to generate electricity at the Biffa plant
- Electricity for Sainsbury’s Cannock store is directly supplied to the supermarket via a newly constructed new 1.5km long electricity cable
- The new power supply – built in partnership with Biffa – means the Cannock store will come off the National Grid for day to day electricity consumption
- Sainsbury’s is already the UK’s largest retail user of anaerobic digestion, generating enough energy to power 2,500 homes each year