ADBA calls for AD to be recognised in manifestos

The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) is calling for the value of anaerobic digestion to be recognised by UK political parties.

The call comes with a snap election on the horizon and all parties now scrambling to pull together manifestos.

ADBA chief executive Charlotte Morton said: “The performance of local authorities and politicians on the ground can have an impact on how people vote nationally. There are levers that the Government can pull to make their job on the ground easier, and this is true when it comes to supporting the AD industry and sorting the problem of food waste collections in England.”

In order to lock in the progress that this innovative industry has made over the last few years, ADBA is calling for three policies that all parties should include in their manifestos:

Re-introduce the legislation on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) as soon as possible in the next parliament, and commit to increasing the RHI budget so we can continue to produce clean, green energy and useful products like biofertiliser.

Commit to legislation introducing separate food waste collections in England, to divert waste away from landfill, helping meet our carbon commitments.

Support UK farmers by restoring viable tariffs to the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme and remove the AD capacity cap.

Local problems on what to do with food waste, as well as national ones on meeting our energy needs and cutting carbon emissions will come to a head in the next Parliament. With the right targeting support, AD can help solve many of these domestic issues, while boosting our exports abroad.

ADBA will be taking these messages to the new Government as soon as it is in place, and helping our members lobby their prospective parliamentary candidates over the coming weeks.