North East food waste recycling company and sustainability pioneers, Warrens Group, have announced another first for the industry and the North East Region. As a third generation family business of over 70 years standing, Warrens have grown from humble beginnings to become one of the region’s foremost providers of agricultural and food waste recycling services.
In recent years, Warrens have forged a place for themselves at the forefront of the industry, culminating in the launch of Warrens Emerald Biogas – the region’s first food waste anaerobic digestion facility, built in 2012 – and currently collecting and recycling over 115,000 tonnes of food waste to generate over 100 million kWh of clean, green energy every year – enough to power 19,000 homes!
Now Warrens have announced another first – they are about to take delivery of the first of a new fleet of trucks powered by biomethane gas – making them the first food waste recycling company in the UK to power their HGV waste collection vehicles with biogas converted directly from their own food waste customers!
Warrens Director Antony Warren explains, “As a company, we pride ourselves on our forward-thinking, we’ve always been early adopters of the latest technology and methods. Our fundamental purpose is to collect waste and convert it into energy, so we’ve been looking for a biogas-powered vehicle for a while – it was just a question of finding the right one.”
To achieve this objective, Warrens Group collaborated with IVECO, a leader in the design and manufacture of natural power vehicles. IVECO’s unrivalled experience in gas vehicle technology has spanned more than 20 years, and was key to securing the deal to supply the Eurocargo Natural Power truck.
Antony Warren continues, “We knew IVECO was at the forefront of the technology, and the team there were brilliant in helping us to understand the advantages of natural gas – working with us to specify the perfect vehicle and supplying it faster than any other manufacturer we spoke to.”
The new biomethane powered truck will be in operation six days a week, with refuelling carried out at Warrens Group’s on-site facility at Newton Aycliffe. This means it will be seen collecting food waste from a wide range of existing Warrens customers including pubs, restaurants, schools and supermarkets across the North East of England.
Warrens Director Adam Warren explains; “We firmly believe that a sustainable business is a better business. Sustainability is something we advocate to all organisations and communities, as we support their efforts to address the environmental issues caused by traditional methods of waste disposal. By powering our own fleet on the biogas it collects, we’re demonstrating that when it comes to sustainability, we really do practice what we preach. “
Expert and industry consensus agrees with the Warrens view that if we fuel HGV’s on gas made from renewable sources, carbon emissions would be almost eliminated. This development is timely because the adverse effects of poor air quality on human health and climate change are two of the most pressing environmental issues we face today.
Gas industry expert and Managing Director of CNG Services, John Baldwin is excited at the new development and commented; “The HGV’s on the UK roads have a disproportionate environmental impact; whilst they represent only 5% of road vehicles, they consume around 25% of road diesel and are responsible for around 27% of roadside NOx and 18% of transport-related CO2 emissions . The acquisition of trucks that are powered by the biomethane gas they help to generate means CO2 emissions are reduced by almost 100% – which could very possibly give Warrens Group the lowest carbon footprint for collection of food waste on the planet.”
