Philip Simpson of ReFood explains why anaerobic digestion (AD) should be considered central to the long-term success of the UK's food waste strategy.

The volume of food waste generated every year across the retail supply chain, the hospitality sector and in UK homes stands at around 9.5m tonnes1. While innovative thinking, behavioural change and positive action from across the supply chain has seen this volume slowly decrease (down from 10m tonnes in 2015 and 11.2m tonnes in 2007), there is still a long way to go.

While there is much emphasis on waste reduction initiatives and redistribution programmes, not widely appreciated is the crucial role anaerobic digestion (AD) is playing in the management of unavoidable food waste. However, there are several challenges that need to be overcome. Indeed, while the nation's AD capacity is increasing – up to 6m tonnes per year according to recent Defra figures2 – the most pressing challenge facing the industry today is on the supply side.

ReFood 的 Philip Simpson 解释了为什么应将厌氧消化 (AD) 视为英国食物浪费战略长期成功的核心。

零售供应链、酒店业和英国家庭每年产生的食物垃圾量约为 950 万吨1。虽然整个供应链的创新思维、行为改变和积极行动使这一数量缓慢下降（从 2015 年的 1000 万吨和 2007 年的 1120 万吨下降），但仍有很长的路要走。

虽然人们非常重视减少废物的举措和再分配计划，但厌氧消化 (AD) 在管理不可避免的食物浪费方面所发挥的关键作用并未得到广泛认可。然而，有几个挑战需要克服。事实上，虽然美国的 AD 产能正在增加——根据最近的 Defra 数据2，每年高达 600 万吨——但当今该行业面临的最紧迫的挑战是在供应方面。