Viva Brighton Issue #80 October 2019

FEATURE
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BHESco
Food waste into energy
Got a few quid to
spare? Then how
about investing in an
anaerobic digestor
plant? If you’ve never
heard of one – it’s
understandable –
then essentially it’s a
mechanism to produce
‘clean’ energy
from food waste, of
which Brighton and
Hove produces some
400,000 tonnes every year. Brighton and Hove
Energy Services Cooperative – aka BHESco –
wants to build one in Sussex with the support of
the local community. If the scheme is successful,
it will be the first community-owned anaerobic
digestor in the country, capable of supplying renewable
energy to more than 10,000 local homes.
Although the project is still in its early stages –
the not-for-profit social enterprise must first find
a suitable site for the plant – the idea is to collect
waste from local restaurants, cafés and bars that
have signed up for the scheme. “Businesses would
need to separate out their waste because it can’t
be anything cooked and we don’t want to take
anything that could be redistributed within the
community,” explains BHESco’s marketing coordinator
Dan Curtis. “So it would be vegetable
peelings, egg shells…” A local contractor – they
are in talks with waste management company
Brighton Paper Round – would then collect the
scraps and take them to the plant, where it would
be transformed into gas that could be added to
the National Grid’s supply.
The project is expected to cost “a few million”
Curtis says – which is where the rest of us come
in. “We will be doing what we do with all our
projects and operating
a community
share offer. Anyone
can invest up to
£100,000, in return
for which they
would get a five per
cent return on their
money.” Aside from
the financial rewards,
it’s an opportunity to
do something positive
for the environment,
he says. “People would see their money
being used for something good – to help combat
climate change – rather than it just sitting in a
bank or building society. We hope people would
find it quite an inspiring thing to be a part of.
We had a public meeting at the Friends Meeting
House earlier this year and 60 people including
representatives of organisations and groups
attended. So, there’s definitely interest. We just
need to nail down the land.”
In the meantime, there are other BHESco
schemes in need of support. The cooperative is
currently fundraising to install solar panels on
five local schools, plus a church and a brewery.
“We need to raise half a million by the end of
this year,” says Dan, “So I’d definitely encourage
anyone who’s interested in what we do to take
a look at our website.” And it’s always worth
taking care of the basics, he emphasises. “Clean
energy is quite sexy and exciting but it’s much
better to just not use as much energy in the first
place. We’re big champions of people using their
energy more sensibly, changing to LED light
bulbs and so on. Even the smallest changes can
make a big difference.” Nione Meakin
bhesco.co.uk
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