Food waste disposers are usually units set in kitchen sinks that grind up food debris into minute particles which are then washed down into the sewers.
Research in Sweden suggests that this can have a positive environmental impact, not just by reducing smelly rubbish from the home and dustbin but also in generating ‘green energy’. The food waste is carried through the waste water system to a wastewater treatment plant. These are increasingly equipped withdigesters which turn the waste into biogas which can be used for heating and electricity generation and also produce organic fertiliser.
In this way waste can be turned into productive clean energy rather than going to landfill, where it will take up valuable space and potentially leak methane (a harmful greenhouse gas) to the atmosphere.
We believe that householders should be encouraged to install and use FWDs because of their environmental benefits and that this should be written into the relevant building codes.