Sainsbury’s is pioneering food recycling by investing £9m in establishing five plants over the course of the next two years. It aims to become the first retailer in the UK to fully manage its food waste.

Sainsbury’s, the third largest grocer of the UK, has entered into a joint venture with British food recycling specialist, Biogen-Greenfinch, to develop five sites. Sainsbury’s wants to save millions of pounds every year with a plan to send zero waste to landfill by December 2009.

Sainsbury’s has already gone ahead with a pilot project at Biogen-Greenfinch’s recycling plant in Bedfordshire. This plant receives waste from Biogen-Greenfinch’s distribution centre at Northampton.

Anaerobic digestion technology is being used to break down food waste at Bedfordshire site. This low carbon technology, is the most sustainable technique of producing clean energy, including electricity and fertiliser from recycling of food.

Three quarter of 80 tonnes of waste currently sent to landfill each year by Sainsbury’s, includes food waste, plastic trays and cardboard. It spends large amount on skips, compactors for compressing waste and companies for disposal of waste to landfills. It also pays for huge landfill tax.

Sainsbury’s is expecting annual savings of £2m from recycling of food, which is likely to increase substantially in the long run as recycling plants would start generating electricity which will be supplied to National Grid and third-party companies. These sites would become profit centres for Sainsbury’s in due course.

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