10 | Ecogas: Food Waste Processing Facility Kim Newth Food waste powers energy plant to page 12 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Warner Construction is proud to be associated with Ecogas General Engineering • Pipeline Construction • Geothermal • Bolt Tensioning • Blast & Paint • Transport Services Waitara (Head Office) 06 754 8602 adam@warnerconstruction.co.nz 36 Norman St, Waitara, New Plymouth 4320 Taupo 07 376 5753 grant@warnerconstruction.co.nz 32 Manuka St, Tauhara, Taupo 3330 Bell Block 06 755 4504 adam@warnerconstruction.co.nz 65 De Havilland Drive, Bell Block, New Plymouth 4312 www.warnerconstruction.co.nz EcoStock Supplies Limited and Pioneer Energy have joined forces to do something about New Zealand’s significant food waste problem. Operating together as Ecogas Limited Partnership, they have developed New Zealand’s first full-scale, clean energy plant powered by food waste. The state-of-the-art plant, located at Reporoa in the central North Island, will turn 75,000 tonnes of organic waste into renewable clean energy and biofertiliser. Ecogas is in the commissioning phase with the large-scale food waste-to-bioenergy facility due to become fully operational by the end of the year. It marks a big step towards Aotearoa New Zealand achieving a more sustainable future. Organic waste from businesses and kerbside food and scrap collections throughout the Waikato and Auckland will be sent to the $30 million facility at Reporoa, which has been funded by Ecogas partners and supported with a loan from the Provincial Growth Fund. Currently, this country generates more than 327,000 tonnes of food waste per year, roughly equivalent to a busload of food waste going to landfill every five minutes. It is a sobering fact that we are currently one of the highest generators of waste per person in the OECD. “[But] We are now seeing a big shift from central government towards a more circular economy – one that seeks to eliminate waste through recycling, repair and re-purposing - and making more sustainable use of the resources we have without exploiting them further,” says Alzbeta Bouskova, General Manager of Ecogas. Once fully up and running, the Reporoa organics facility will be generating enough clean and renewable energy to power the equivalent of 2500 households and producing carbon-neutral bio-fertiliser for around 2000 hectares of local farmland. Biogas and heat from the plant will also be used to supercharge the growth of tomatoes at an adjacent T&G Global glasshouse operation. New Zealand has some catching up to do on organic waste processing technology, but the silver lining is that Ecogas has been able to draw on the very latest learnings from around the world to develop their ground-breaking facility at Reporoa.
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