Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Anaerobic Digestion: Discussion

Mr. Percy Foster:

Mr. Breton mentioned Italy. We went on a tour to Italy a few years ago and I remember visiting a very interesting plant there. I think it was called Bioman. It was taking in biowaste materials in the region, digesting the material and then post-composting the digestate. It was extracting struvite from the process and then using the biomethane for both the company cars and the vehicles that collected the biowaste in the region. The composted material was used in horticultural greenhouses built at the plant as well. It was a very interesting plant. It was very circular in operation but a big part of that was that is had security of feedstock supply and further plants. That is an issue as we do not have that security in Ireland. Where plants have security of feedstock and the right supports from the Government, very innovative things can be done in addition to the existing processes.