Manure to power two million homes

DEFRA is launching an initiative to help agriculture and other sectors meet targets for producing energy from anaerobic digestion, the breakdown of organic material without oxygen.

Currently the UK produces over 100 million tonnes of organic material which could be used to produce biogas, around 90 million tonnes of which comes from substances such as manure, slurry and food waste.

Speaking at the NFU Conference, Jane Kennedy, Farming and Environment Minister said

'We're producing more organic waste in this country than we can handle, over 12 million tonnes of food waste a year - and farmers know too well the challenges of managing manure and slurry.
There are alternatives to sending organic waste to landfill.  Anaerobic digestion is a true solution.  This material could produce enough heat and power to run more than two million homes - helping to prevent dangerous climate change by providing a renewable energy source as well as reduing our reliance on landfill.
Along with farmers, sectors including water, energy, waste and food and retail have signed up for goals for introducing anaerobic digestion to create power  by 2020.'

The government has published a report outlining the targets for developing anaerobic digestion as a valuable energy source nationally.