29 June 2011

Prince finds out about converting food into energy
MOST people say goodbye to their recycling and food waste when they put out the weekly rubbish but not The Prince of Wales.

Charles visited a modern energy plant near his home in Carmarthenshire and saw what happens to his leftovers after they get thrown away.


The cutting-edge plant, All Waste Services (AWS), in Llangadog, converts food into green energy by harnessing the emissions of millions of bacteria.

The tiny organisms digest the food in something called an anaerobic digester, which works much like a human body. The gas can then be used for electricity or heating.

Fred Bartlett, director of AWS Burdens Environmental Ltd, the company which developed the digester, said it was down to the bacterias emissions, but I didnt tell that to the Prince when he was walking round.

If you go near a landfill site, what you can smell is the same methane, thats what comes off the waste. We, here, are being very virtuous in putting all that gas through the system.

The plant in Llangadog is where food waste from the royal residence in Llwynywermod goes once it is thrown away.

Charless visit was part of his annual week-long Welsh tour he makes with the Duchess of Cornwall.

He was asked during his visit to take a whiff of various types of manure, produced as a by-product of the digester.

But managing director Hefin Roberts, who led the tour around the plant, said the Prince was no novice.

His knowledge of recycling and anaerobic digestion was very good, he said.

The information I was telling him he pretty much knew already.

The AWS recycling centre has been in operation for around ten years, but the state- of-the-art digester was built in 2009 and has been expanded ever since.

It is the smallest of its kind in the UK but still produces 40KW of power, enough to service 10,000 homes.

It is only a pilot plant. And Burdens, part of the company which developed it, plans to sell similar facilities to private companies or local authorities.

However, it has not always been a success story; the centre met strong opposition in the planning stage ten years ago.

But Mr Roberts claimed all of the objectors now used the site and admitted it was smell and rat-free.

I have some great neighbours, everyone really supports it now, he said.

The Prince arrived at the site yesterday morning greeted by a song in Welsh from pupils at Ysgol Gynradd Llangadog.

Head teacher Aled Rees said: Some of the children were awestruck, they couldnt believe the Prince was really here. But they were all keen to perform for him.

He later met youngsters who had participated in a Get Into Sports leadership project with Swansea City at a reception for the Princes Trust at his home.

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