An anaerobic digester (AD) plant at a Suffolk food ingredients firm has generated enough electricity to power 2,000 homes every year.

Muntons’ AD plant became the first to be installed by a UK maltster in 2015 and has now produced 10 million kilowatt hours of energy.

The Stowmarket-based firm – which aims to become as sustainable as it can – said the milestone proved the plant was making a positive impact.

MORE – Muntons ‘proud’ to become first maltster to join WRAP food waste schemeThe plant also cuts road haulage by using waste water and residues from processing barley into malt and malt extract, saving the equivalent of 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions which would be produced by 1,600 cars every year.

The digestate – or bio-fertiliser – produced can be used on local farms to enrich the soil.

Sustainability director Nigel Davies said: “Our decision to build an AD plant has proved to be well founded, making a valuable contribution to our energy requirements.

“Generating energy locally is efficient and environmentally sound, and the positive impact on nature is significant, reducing greenhouse gases and helping to enrich the soil on local farms.”

Muntons has calculated that since the plant was commissioned, it has produced 5,606,175 cubic metres of biogas.

It has also treated 411,000 cubic metres of waste water, which is then safely introduced into the River Gipping.