Our partner Boston Tea Party explains how Wessex Water subsidiary GENeco, “the team who turn poo into fuel and then use it to power a bus”, worked with them to create Bio-Bee, a vehicle powered by the food waste it collects.

Shelley, Boston Tea Party’s Finance Director explains, “Our relationship grew stronger when we worked with GENeco to launch their Bio-Bee food waste collection vehicle last year. The Bio-Bee is powered by the food waste that it collects (our Park St cafe’s monthly waste powers it to go for around 550 miles). It’s far less pollutive and noisy than a normal diesel waste vehicle, which in turn improves the quality of Bristol’s air.”

Shelley continues, “What if all refuse vehicles were powered in this way? Or if all the waste from neighbouring businesses went in the same collection vehicle rather than many different ones? These are the sort of environment improving initiatives that we would both like to tackle for the greater good of our world.”

“Once food waste arrives at the GENeco depot, it goes through a pasteurisation process, in order to create a biofertiliser, safe for spreading on farm land. The pasteurised waste is fed into their anaerobic (meaning without oxygen) digesters where biological treatment begins. Micro-organisms break down the food waste and produce a methane-rich biogas. This biogas is either used to generate renewable electricity or undergoes processing in their gas-to-grid plant to convert it into enriched biomethane. This green gas can be used to provide vehicle transport fuel for vehicles, or supply local homes.”

Initiatives like this help businesses to understand not only the impact of their processes but how they can become more environmentally friendly, often on a zero-cost basis.

Read the full article here and Subscribe today to comment and share any examples you have seen yourself.

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