ReFood, Europe’s leading food waste Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant operators, has achieved the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 110 certification for producing quality digestate from AD, making its Doncaster facility one of very few in the UK to be awarded the accreditation.

ReFood opened its state-of-the-art AD facility inDoncasterin 2011. It collects and recycles 45,000 tonnes of food from businesses across theYorkshireregion, converting it into 2.8MWs of electricity – enough to power 5,000 homes, as well as heat for local businesses and nutrient rich organic fertiliser, DynAgro.

The PAS110 certification will assure farmers this digestate is of a consistent quality that is beneficial to their crops. ReFood has also achieved the ADQP (Anaerobic Digestion Quality Protocol) which sets the quality criteria for outputs from AD, which means the digestate can be defined as a product rather than a waste.

PAS110, first published in February 2010, sets parameters on input materials and the management system for the AD process. For ReFood, the certification will ensure that DynAgro fertiliser produced by its plants is made using suitable materials and effectively processed by AD to deliver a high quality product that meets market needs and protects the environment.

TheDoncasterplant has undergone a rigorous year-long validation program to demonstrate compliance with the standard. Feedback from local farmers using the digestate has been overwhelmingly positive; not only are the treated crops greener and healthier, the farmers have also achieved cost savings by reducing the use of inorganic fertilisers and been able to improve crop yields.

Commenting on the announcement, Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood said: “As a business that strives to achieve best practice in food waste recycling, we have always been a supporter of PAS110. We work closely with our raw material suppliers and customers in the farming community, who also see a great value to PAS accreditation. We have worked hard to attain PAS110, so that our customers can have complete confidence in the safety and quality of our processes.”

To find out more about ReFood visit http://www.refood.co.uk