Good news on the Kent recycling front. At tomorrow’s KCC Environment & Transport Cabinet Committee meeting there is an item to consider a contract for the county’s food waste to be composted at a brand new £17.5 million anaerobic digestion facility at Blaise Farm, next to the current garden waste composting facility. This would mean that Kent’s food waste could at last be processed within the county (previously, much of it was transported to Hampshire). Blaise Farm is near West Malling, close to junction 4 of the M20.
Our KCC member, Martin Whybrow, who has been on the waste management cross-party working group, says: “The more that we can encourage local recycling loops, the better. This facility will significantly reduce carbon emissions from transport and will also bring a considerable saving for the council.”
Food waste collected at the kerbside by ten of the twelve district and borough councils currently amounts to 36,000 tonnes per annum. The anaerobic digestion process will produce biogas (which will be fed into the National Grid) and a nitrogen-rich fertiliser. The proposed contract would commence from 1st April 2020.
