Recycling must improve to optimise AD output, says ADBA chief

Low recycling targets and a lack of emphasis on source-segregated waste collections is holding the anaerobic digestion sector back, according to the Anaerobic Digestion & Biogas Association's (ADBA) chief executive, Charlotte Morton.

Speaking at the association's annual UK AD & Biogas show today (6 July) at Birmingham NEC, Morton said that based on present circumstances, for the UK to reach its target of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 would require a "heroic" effort.

"The Government's national recycling target of 50% by 2020 is exceptionally low. We really need to do something to improve that target," she told delegates.

ADBA is also pushing for a greater focus on source-segregated household waste collections at the kerbside, and for municipal and commercial waste to be prioritised as a feedstock for AD plants.

"We need clear messages from government [on this] but what we are getting is mixed messages - we don't hear ministers saying that we need more recycling or source-segregated waste," Morton said, adding that this wasn't helping local authorities in their decision-making when it came to waste management and disposal.

She also emphasised that if a greater uptake of AD was to be realised, then investors would need more certainty.

Maxine Perella