Amber Rudd MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change officially opened the £3.2 million state of the art anaerobic digestion plant. The Minister was greeted by Howard Baker, Nestlé Fawdon Factory Manager and saw how production residues from the manufacturing of famous brands such as Fruit Pastilles, Rolo and Toffee Crisp is being used to power part of the factory.
Hannah Whall, Nestlé UK engineering graduate led a tour of the AD plant which tackles around 1,200 tonnes of residues a year and also converts over 200,000 litres per day of trade effluent into renewable energy. Nearly 10% of the factory will be powered from energy created from the facility. It treats both liquid and solid feedstocks, which marks it as unique among digestion systems. The site has already been verified for sending zero waste to landfill, three years ahead of target. To manage the facility, Nestlé has recruited two full-time technicians to operate the AD plant.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Amber Rudd said:
“It’s fantastic to see first-hand how Nestlé’s innovative anaerobic digester at its Fawdon factory turns sweet waste products into clean green power.
“Energy from waste has an important part to play in our low carbon energy mix and that’s why we have schemes in place to encourage organisations to get on board.”
Nestlé's Head of Sustainability, Inder Poonaji, said:
“The AD plant is part of our commitment to reduce environmental impacts and increase our onsite energy efforts. This solution fits the needs of our site for dealing with our waste residues. It is also fantastic that this 'natural' process outputs 'clean' water.”
Fawdon is a ‘lighthouse factory’ for Nestlé’s integrated sustainability approach, acting as a test bed for exploring new ideas and technologies, accelerating progress towards the company’s sustainability vision and acting as a learning centre.
Also, welcoming the Minister to the site, Richard Gueterbock, founder director of technology supplier Clearfleau said:
“Nestlé’s on-site digestion plant is a great example of how food companies can make better use of production residues to reduce their carbon footprint. It is very encouraging that Nestle chose to work with an emerging British company to build this plant.
“We are pleased that the Government recognise the need to develop a British technology supply base for the renewables sector, creating jobs and hopefully future export opportunities for innovative technology.”
ENDS
For further information please call the Nestlé Press Office on 0208 667 6005 or email [email protected]
Nestlé Fawdon Information
List of brands:
• Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles
• Rowntree’s Fruit Gums
• Rowntree’s Jelly Tots
• Rowntree’s Tooty Frooties
• Rolo
• Munchies
• Caramac
• Toffee Crisp
• Matchmakers
• Drifter
• Blue Riband
• Breakaway