Brewing Biogas: Transforming coffee grounds for good through anaerobic digestion
To coincide with WRAP’s Recycle Week, BioteCH4, the UK’s leading anaerobic digestion (AD) operator urges more coffee drinkers to recycle their used coffee pods through the Podback recycling scheme.
In 2023, BioteCH4’s Changing Waste site processed 499 tonnes of coffee grounds from Podback, which has the potential to generate 298MWh of energy. This could power over 4,500 coffee pod machines per year! *
Podback, the nationwide coffee pod recycling service, collects plastic and aluminium coffee pods to give the materials, and the coffee grounds, a new lease of life. Since 2020, BioteCH4’s Changing Waste site in The East Riding of Yorkshire has been recycling the used coffee grounds from Podback’s plastic coffee pods, using the process of anaerobic digestion.
Once collected by Podback, the plastic coffee pods are transported to a facility in Yorkshire, where the plastic is separated from the coffee and recycled. The coffee grounds are transported a short distance from the facility to Changing Waste, where they are processed and transformed into biogas and a nutrient-rich biofertiliser.
The biogas is sent to the national grid to be used in homes and businesses across the country, and the biofertiliser is distributed to farmers in the local area.
This year’s Recycle Week initiative by WRAP is ‘Rescue Me’, with the vision that by recycling at least one extra item as part of our daily recycling routine, we can make a huge difference. BioteCH4 and Podback urge everyone who uses coffee pods, to recycle them, and with Podback, it couldn’t be easier!
Lee Dobinson, BioteCH4’s Chief Commercial Officer, said “Podback’s service makes a huge difference to the recycling efforts across the UK. Food waste is a growing environmental burden, and the public is starting to join the initiative to get food waste out of landfills and into anaerobic digestion facilities. We encourage people to think about their waste in the form of coffee pods and ensure these are recycled effectively through Podback, creating a new life for all the components of the pod”.
Podback and BioteCH4 partnered to create a video for Podback users to see what happens to their coffee pods once they’ve recycled them, watch it here: https://youtu.be/2C_P9stQjEU?si=J8tkIbxS0vr90N7G
Pod coffee lovers can find out more about how to recycle with Podback by using the online ‘recycle checker’ at www.podback.org
* Based on the typical yearly energy usage of 66kWh as reported by the Office of Sustainability
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