Construction begins on Dagenham AD plant

Construction has started on food waste recycler ReFood’s new £32-million anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Dagenham, East London.

The plant, located at the London Sustainable Industries Park (SIP) in Degenham Dock, is expected to open in Summer 2017 and will create up to 60 new jobs.

According to ReFood, the plant will be capable of recycling 160,000 tonnes of food waste each year, generating more than 2,000 metres cubed of methane gas every hour. Using gas to grid (G2G) technology, this will then be upgraded to reflect the qualities of natural gas and injected directly into the national gas grid. Energy generated by the plant will be used to power more than 10,000 homes across the region, says the company.

ReFood Dagenham will be the company’s third plant in the UK, adding to its existing AD sites in Doncaster and Widnes.  The Dagenham plant will also provide a transfer facility for Category 3 Animal By-Products (ABP) collected from across London and the South East; currently carried out by ReFood’s sister company, John Knight. The Category 3 transfer facility is scheduled to commence operation this Autumn. 

Ambitious plans

Philip Simpson, Commercial Director at ReFood, commented: “Starting construction on our new site in Dagenham is truly a landmark achievement. In London and the surrounding areas, a significant volume of food waste is generated every year and ReFood Dagenham will play a crucial role in recycling this waste. Thus, helping businesses to lower their operational costs, become more sustainable and, most importantly, divert a highly valuable resource away from landfill. 

 “Our UK operations have grown by 250 per cent since our first year of production in 2012 and we have ambitious plans to further build on this success.”