Food waste converted into fuel

THIRTY per cent of food purchased by households in Ireland is wasted, so we need new methods of its disposal.

A survey on behalf of the Environmental Protection Association (EPA) has also found that 51% of people throw out food regularly. The old means of disposal was to put it in a bin for the local authority to collect and dump into a hole in the ground.

But this is not tolerated any longer because rotting food produces methane, a global-warming gas 23 times stronger than carbon dioxide. The EU is piling on the pressure by raising taxes on waste to landfill, so more people are recycling.