Waste services firm Biffa has announced a £1.5m investment to expand the number of food waste processing sites in the UK.
The firm's four new food waste transfer stations will be used to collect and sort food waste before it is sent to be transformed into energy at the company's anaerobic digestion plants.
"The UK generates around 15 million tonnes of food waste each year, with businesses in the food service sector accounting for just under half of this," said Chris Savage, general manager of Biffa's anaerobic digestion plant at Cannock, in a statement.
"Our investment into the new transfer stations will create great efficiencies in the collection and preparation of [this] waste before it is sent to our anaerobic digestion plants."
Last month the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) published a new report predicting that at the current rollout rate there could be 180 biomethane plants in operation by 2021 - prompting significant changes to the way food waste is collected and distributed through the waste system.
Biffa's first new food waste station has already been installed at its current waste transfer plant in Merseyside, and will allow the company to process both household food waste and meat-based waste produced by businesses. Other stations are set to be built in Yorkshire, the South West, the South East and Scotland.
In related news, YouGov research commissioned by Sainsbury's has shown that British families are vastly underestimating the amount of money they squander through wasting food. The research found that 81 per cent of families of four believe they throw away less than £30 worth of food a month, while they actually waste almost double that at close to £60 a month.
Sainsbury's announced last week it has chosen Swadlincote in Derbyshire to become the "test bed" town of its Waste Less, Save More initiative. The supermarket launched the food waste reduction project last year, pledging to spend £1m in a single UK town to test the most effective ways of reducing household food waste.
The project aims to reduce food waste by 50 per cent and save the average household £350 using reward programmes and smart technologies among other initiatives. Sainsbury's first step will be to hand out free fridge thermometers to all households, to help them check appliances are at their optimum temperature.
The supermarket plans to spend £10m over the next five years to develop similar food waste schemes across the UK.
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