Build a digester at High Heavens tip (From Bucks Free Press)

Build a digester at High Heavens tip

12:10pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in Your Letters

WITH reference to your report last week about plans for a waste transfer station at High Heavens tip and the heavy traffic this would generate, it would seem wise to consider building different facilities at Clay Lane.

Instead of the proposed new arrangements for storing 130,000 tons of waste, before it is reloaded for transport to Greatmoor, it should be possible to construct an anaerobic digester at Clay Lane. This is a well established procedure widely practiced round the world.

The digester would solve the problem of waste disposal by converting most of the organic waste to a mixture of gases, including methane and carbon dioxide. The methane is separated and collected, and either piped into the gas grid for space heating, or burned to create steam for driving turbines to generate electricity, or collected for use as a motor fuel.

The solid residue is much smaller than the original bulk and contains valuable elements which make it an excellent fertiliser, so the overall effect is to recycle carbon to supply energy, instead of digging more out of the ground as coal, oil or gas, and to recapture important substances for use as fertiliser.

Elsa Woodward, The Haystacks, High Wycombe