Last week Defra published the long-awaited Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011.

While we welcome the Government’s efforts to reaffirm the principles of the waste hierarchy ­­­ putting waste reduction and recycling above recovery and disposal and the underpinning theme of waste as a resource, overall we feel the Waste Policy Review lacks bite and missed a great opportunity.

The prospect of positive action on sustainable waste management was welcomed with open arms by our industry. However, the reality fell somewhat short. The review was very cautious, offering guidance that is voluntary, consultative or, in some cases, merely encouragement ­ in short, it was heavy on ambition but light on action.

Nevertheless, for the grocery retail sector it’s not all bad news. Not only are voluntary targets, such as those set out in the Courtauld Commitment for packaging and food waste, working well for this industry, but published alongside the Review was the Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action Plan (‘the AD Strategy’), which was a much more promising read.

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a natural process which converts organic matter such as food waste into energy. The main products resulting from AD are: biogas, similar to natural gas and can be used to generate electricity, gas or heat, or compressed for use as a biofuel; and digestate, a fertiliser rich in nitrates and phosphates.

For readers of The Grocer, it will come as no surprise that with their ambitious sustainability strategies many of the leading supermarkets and food manufacturers are already using AD technology to recycle food that is either waste, unsold or past its sell-by date.

At Shanks, for example, we provide food waste recycling for Marks & Spencer at our state-of-the-art AD facility in Cumbernauld, Glasgow. Using Shanks’ proven Orgaworld AD technology, this facility is capable of processing some 60 kilotonnes per year of food waste, generating 22,500MW per hour of renewable energy, which is enough to power more than 3,000 homes ­ not to mention helping Marks & Spencer to reach its target of sending zero operational waste to landfill by 2012.

What the AD Strategy sets out is an action plan to develop more of these facilities to achieve an increase in energy from waste through AD. This is a great opportunity for the grocery retail sector both environmentally and economically. Despite great progress, 6.5 million tonnes of waste is still produced in the UK food and drink supply chain each year, costing the industry £5bn [Wrap]. With more AD capacity coming on-line over the next few years, there will be no reason why 100% of the organic fraction of this waste cannot be turned into valuable resources and fuel to generate green energy.

As a leading provider of sustainable alternatives to landfill and incineration for waste, AD is central to Shanks’ strategy in the UK. We already have one million tonnes of organic waste treatment capacity across Europe. We now call on the grocery retail sector in the UK to work with us to set even higher standards for food waste recycling.

Let’s be honest, the AD Strategy is the silver lining to this Waste Policy Review cloud, and we should all be looking to capitalise on it.

Ian Goodfellow is UK managing director of waste management group Shanks.

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