Biogen is encountering opposition to its proposal to construct a new anaerobic digestion plant that would produce enough power to supply 1,500 homes each year.
The company which is based at Milton Keynes, wants to build the new facility on farmland to the south of the town of Rushden. The facility would accept food wastes for treatment from factories, retail premises as well as households, to produce biogas and a fertiliser.
However the proposal has been rejected by East Northamptonshire Council in its role as consultee to a planning application for the new facilty, which is to be finally decided by the Northamptonshire County Council.
East Northamptonshire considers that, “there appears to be no justification for the siting of the facility within the rural area. The site is neither an existing brownfield site nor does it contain any existing buildings. Insufficient information has also been submitted to demonstrate that it would be close to the source of the waste, or that it would be a sustainable form of development”.
The Council also considers that the proposal would have a harmful effect on the landscape and in addition says that insufficient information has been submitted relating to the impact of odour, noise and dust, making it not possible to assess the effect that the proposal would have on residential amenity.
Biogen has a similar anaerobic digester near Milton Ernest, and the company expects that 45,000 tonnes of food waste should be diverted from landfill with all its environmental benefits.
Anaerobic Digestion is a process whereby wet organic materials are biologically treated in the absence of oxygen, using naturally occurring micro-organisms. This results in the production of a mixture of biogas (a renewable energy source) fuel and fertiliser.
Biogen intends to use the biogas in a combined heat and power (CHP) unit to produce 1.5MW of renewable energy and in addition 35,000 tonnes of fertiliser will be produced through the process, to be spread on the adjoining farmland. Also, 2,000 tonnes of food packaging waste are to be collected on site and recycled where possible, though some is to be taken to landfill.