Callow Hill AD Facility
Who is Eco Sustainable Solutions?
Eco is a family run company specialising in Waste & Renewable Energy. Since Eco was founded in 1995, we’ve recycled over 4.3 million tonnes of organic material, preventing over 2 million tonnes of CO2e from being emitted to the atmosphere – that’s the equivalent to over quarter of a million return flights to Australia!
Over the past 30 years, Eco has led a variety of sustainable projects from organic waste recycling, producing green power from food waste to developing, at the time, the largest Solar Farm in Europe.
Eco currently recycles over 250,000 tonnes of organic material each year, converting it into renewable energy or high-quality landscaping products, like certified composts, mulch, and nutrient rich topsoil.
From sustainably leading the way in the development and implementation of renewable energy solutions, to our passionate team constantly challenging themselves to make processes more carbon efficient, we will continue to fight climate change by constantly striving to be Always More Sustainable.
What is Anaerobic Digestion?
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) takes place when biodegradable material is broken down by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen. During this process, these organic materials are converted to biogas.
A biogas can be created from food waste, which would have previously been disposed of through landfill.
The biogas is then upgraded into biomethane and injected into the UK’s national gas network. Biomethane production helps the UK reduce its dependence on imported gas, while also cutting greenhouse gas emissions, when compared to natural gas.
Once all the biogas has been extracted from the food soup, the food soup is pasteurised and spread on local farms as a natural bio-fertiliser.
Environmental Benefits of Treating Food Waste by Anaerobic Digestion:
Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Food waste in landfill breaks down anaerobically and releases methane — a greenhouse gas 28x more potent than CO2. Diverting food waste to Anaerobic Digestion significantly reduces these emissions, contributing to the UK’s Net Zero by 2050 goals.
Increased Resource Recovery
Instead of being lost to landfill or incineration, food waste is transformed into renewable energy (biogas) and bio-fertiliser (digestate). This supports a circular economy, where waste is reused productively.
Reduced Reliance on Fossil Fuels
Biogas produced from food waste can replace natural gas in homes and diesel in HGVs, cutting carbon and improving air quality.
This new legislation mandates separate weekly food waste collections for all English households by March 2026 and all non-household premises by March 2025, unless the premises produce less than 5kg per week.
Currently, Wiltshire Council does not offer universal weekly food waste collections, so must introduce compliant scheme prior to an agreed deadline of August 2027.
Callow Hill AD will offer an in-county solution to positively treat this additional food waste and convert it into renewable energy in the form of biomethane.
Park Grounds Waste Facility is an effective waste management facility, which has been in operation for over 30 years. It is allocated in the adopted Waste Local Plan as a site suitable for treating food waste.
The overall site would be around 6 hectares and would be naturally screened around its perimeter by trees and natural fall of the land. The site is split into two distinct, but connected areas, an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Facility and a HGV Refuelling Depot.
The AD facility will contain a reception barn which would receive and pre-treat the food waste to create a food soup. The facility would have five tanks comprised of three domed-roof digesters and two pre-storage tanks.
The gas from the digestors is captured within the domes before being refined and upgraded. The upgraded biomethane will be utilised as a renewable fuel for HGV’s at the onsite refuelling depot, or transported through a dedicated pipe to the gas network and used to heat local homes
The food soup is pasteurised on site to form a nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser which will be used by local farmers to support sustainable crop production.
A fully covered and sealed lagoon will be utilised to store the bio-fertiliser ready for collection by local farmers.
Eco would be using the same technology it has applied at two previous sites in Dorset. Plans for this plant includes the ability to capture the naturally occurring by-product, CO2. The plant is able to prepare the CO2 to be transported away from site and be permanently stored in either geological formations or embedded in long-lasting products like concrete. This process is called Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS).
The HGV Refuelling Depot will dispense Bio-CNG, which is compressed bio-methane, directly from the AD facility. Bio-CNG offers huge greenhouse gas savings compared to diesel!
The facility will benefit from three dispensers which can be utilised by heavy good vehicles (HGV’s) which are depositing food waste at the AD facility, and adjacent waste management facility.
34,000,000 kWh
(enough to heat over 5,400 homes)
62,000 tonnes
of bio-fertiliser
7,000> tonnes
of CO2 savings per year
Environmental Gains
Diverts 75,000 tonnes of local food waste from ending up in landfill each year
Reduces over 7,000 tonnes CO2e emissions annually
Replaces fossil fuels in homes and HGV’s with a renewable solution
Produces nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser to replace fossil alternatives in local agriculture
Aligns with multiple UN Sustainability Development Goals, including clean energy, responsible consumption, and climate action
Community Benefits
Creates 6-8 permanent jobs, plus opportunities in construction, transport, and operations
Provides a local supply of bio-fertiliser to nearby farms
Supports the councils recycling goals
Energy security through on-site generation of renewable power
FAQs
What is being proposed?
Why is this facility needed
Who is behind the project?
What are the benefits?
- 25 million kWh of renewable gas/year
- Over 7,000 tonnes of CO2e savings
- Heat for 5,000+ homes or fuel for 80 HGV’s
- Nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser for local farms
- Local employment and investment
What will the site look like?
What is Biomethane?
What is Bio-CNG?
Will it smell?
Will traffic increase?
Yes. But only slightly and at a very manageable level. The site will see an average of 40 vehicle movements/day:
- 20 inbound HGVs delivering food waste
- 20 outbound tankers/tractors delivering digestate to local farms
All movements will be scheduled within standard hours and use appropriate local routes.