Food scraps and Christmas trees 'billion-dollar business'

Food scraps and Christmas trees could make the foundations of a billion-dollar industry, according to a start-up business, which is using the waste to produce energy and fertiliser.

Harvard Power recently raised $110 million to do just this, with funding being provided amongst a broader movement in the US to make more money from waste management. Several cities have signed up to the proposed developments, with New York leading the way, as well as San Francisco and Seattle.

The start-up company is starting out with a remit of replicating similar attempts that have been in place for years in countries such as Germany and Spain. The capacity for such production is huge, using anaerobic digestion in which bacteria digest organic material and emit biogas.

This biogas can then be monetised by using it as compressed natural gas or burning it for power. Paul Sellew, chief executive of Harvest Power told the Wall Street Journal: "We're basically building the first nationwide organics management company."

Posted by Joseph Hutton