Work has started on building a £15.6 million anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Dorset which will convert local food waste and other organic material into renewable energy and bio-fertiliser.
The project is the largest to be undertaken in the 29-year history of Eco Sustainable Solutions, based at Parley near Christchurch, and is its second AD facility.
The new plant will accept leftover food and peelings from the local area and convert them into green gas which will be supplied directly into the gas grid.
Eco is also converting its fleet of trucks, which transport waste to and from the facility, from diesel to green gas.
The gas will also come from the AD plant and result in an 85 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to diesel.
The AD facility will be capable of handling over 50,000 tonnes of food waste annually, producing around 60GWhs (Gigawatt hours) of biomethane, equivalent to the energy needs of 5,300 medium-sized homes.
Hurn-based Mildren Construction is the main building contractor for the new Parley AD plant which is expected to be fully operational by January 2026 and create five new jobs.
The lion’s share of funding for the new plant - £8.715m – is from Lombard, the UK’s largest asset finance provider and part of NatWest Group.
Henry Bragginton, Relationship Manager at Lombard, said: “The mission of the team at Eco Sustainable Solutions is to create a more sustainable environment for everyone and to encourage people to recycle as much as possible.
“We were very pleased to be able to support the business in putting this into action with its new anaerobic digestion plant.
“It’s exciting to work with a business putting sustainability at its core.”
Andy Moore, Eco’s Financial Director, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Lombard for their support, including guiding us through a complex process over many months.
“What was particularly impressive was that they were able to leverage the right people within the bank at the right time, making the transaction smooth and hassle-free for us.”
Eco’s existing AD facility at Piddlehinton, near Dorchester, has already prevented over 240,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and generated 91,000 MWhs (Megawatt hours) in full green electricity.
Eco recycles over 230,000 tonnes a year of organic waste from Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire into green energy and high-quality landscape products.
The family-owned business, which has a third site at Weymouth, has an annual turnover of £17 million and employs 49 people.
From 1996 until 2023, Eco’s operations have prevented 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 from being emitted to the atmosphere.
This has been achieved through the recycling of over 1.2 million tonnes of green waste, 1.2 million tonnes of soil, 0.92 million tonnes of waste wood and 0.62 million tonnes of food waste.
It brings the total tonnage of waste recycled since Eco opened its gates to over 3.94 million tonnes.
