Tyrone meat processing plant fully powered by waste energy

DUNGANNON-based beef and lamb processor, ABP Linden Foods, has entered into a green energy agreement with two Northern Irish businesses, Progress Energy and 3T Power.

The collaboration will see waste from two of ABP’s other factories in the North transformed into green energy, which will then be used to power Linden Foods’ retail site in Dungannon.

In what is described as a ‘circular economy solution’, the biogas is generated by Progress Energy via anaerobic digestion of organic waste by-products from ABP’s facilities at Newry and Lurgan. It is then converted into home-grown green electricity for 3T Power, who supplies it to Linden.

Elaine Willis, ABP Linden’s retail director, said, “We have been sourcing renewable electricity since 2017. This new collaboration with two innovative, local businesses takes this a step forward by utilising organic material that is a by-product of meat processing to create a sustainable, circular economy solution right here in our rural community.

“It also frees up green electricity from the grid for other uses.”

ABP Linden’s retail customers include some of the UK’s leading supermarkets.

“This initiative is particularly exciting because it creates value from waste within the local agri-food supply chain as well as helping to demonstrate a more sustainable product for our customers and the consumer.

It is part of our engagement with farmer-suppliers and our customers to continue to lower the carbon footprint of Northern Irish beef and lamb produce which is already about half the global average,” Elaine Willis added.

“Lowering emissions across our business operations will be achieved by addressing upstream emissions from agriculture and downstream emissions from, for example, packaging reduction.

“Over the past year we have some great success where we have been able to reduce the weight of packaging on some of our products by 50 per-cent.”

Progress Energy, located in Dromore, county Down, was set up by the farmer Andrew Thompson in 2014 with an investment in a 500kW multi-million-pound anaerobic digestion
plant.

He said, “I saw the opportunity to help address Northern Ireland’s decarbonisation challenges with Progress Energy. As a farmer, I am particularly delighted to work with 3T Power and ABP Linden Foods on a circular economy solution in the beef processing sector.”

According to ABP Linden, the collaboration between the three companies satisfies 100 per-cent of the Dungannon retail site’s renewable electricity requirement.