UK supermarket retailer Sainsbury‘s has today announced an investment of £2 million in Tamar Energy Limited, a new firm which will produce energy from organic waste matter.
Sainsbury‘s is one of a number of investors in Tamar, which was launched today, with more than £65 million contributed in total to creating a UK network of more than 40 power plants which should produce around 100MW of green electricity over the next five years.
The technique used to extract energy from organic waste is called anaerobic digestion (AD) and Sainsbury‘s is already one of the biggest business supporters of the technology as part of its ‘zero food waste to landfill‘ policy.
Justin King, CEO of Sainsbury‘s, commented: “Sainsbury‘s is the UK‘s leading retail user of AD so we are delighted to be an investor and strategic partner of Tamar Energy.
“We will be working closely with our suppliers to ensure they have access to the new plants to help them reduce the environmental impact of their operations, a key strand of our 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan.”
Crucial to the new deal will be that suppliers to Sainsbury‘s will have access to Tamar‘s new AD plants which will help cut down on waste in the supply chain.
According to a report produced by the British Retail Consortium last month, waste in the supply chain is the only area in which the retail industry is not meeting government set targets set to improve its environmental impact.
Other key backers of the Tamar company include the Duchy of Cornwall, Lord Rothschild‘s Family interests, Low Carbon ltd and Fajr Capital.
King added: “With the support of our suppliers we are very confident that this new venture will be a success, helping build Tamar Energy into the UK‘s leading green energy company.”
