The partnership has already led to a 70 per cent reduction in waste being taken from Oliver Adams’ 29 shops to landfill.
Instead the food and general waste is taken to a pioneering new waste disposal plant in Bedfordshire where it is used to produce renewable energy that is sold to the National Grid.
Traditional bakery Oliver Adams approached F&R Cawley for advice as the company looked to upgrade its environment-friendliness.
Under the system, each shop segregates its food and general waste into colour-coded sealed bags which are brought back to the bakery in Northampton. The plastics and cardboard are baled, collected and then taken for recycling. The food waste is emptied into a specially sealed food skip, then taken weekly to the Biogas plant at Milton Ernest for a totally green waste disposal.
Biogas, a partnership between food and animal waste processor Bedfordia Farms and F&R Cawley, aims to handle more than 30,000 tonnes of food waste a year. It has been designed as a sustainable solution to food waste disposal and to increase capture rates of recyclables from the commercial waste stream. It helps companies using it to comply with the government’s BS14001 environmental standard.
Oliver Adams’ managing director Thomas Adams is delighted at the 70pc saving in landfill tax, which he expects to rise exponentially year on year. He said: “We believe recycling is not only good for the environment but it also makes good business sense. We realised that not only was there a good business reason to minimise our waste disposal costs by recycling but also that indeed companies also have a responsibility towards the environment.”
As well as shops in Northamptonshire, Oliver Adams has outlets in Leighton Buzzard, Olney and Woburn Sands.
