Darlington food waste to power local homes through new Bio Capital partnership

With the government’s Simpler Recycling reforms now in effect across England, separate household food waste collection is no longer optional, but a statutory requirement.

This partnership ensures Darlington Borough Council meets that obligation while extracting every unit of value from the material it collects.

I am delighted that residents, businesses and local farms can directly benefit from the introduction of food waste recycling in Darlington. At the same time as starting food waste collections, we have also simplified our general recycling collection and made it weekly, making it as easy as possible for residents to recycle more, said Libby McCollom, Darlington Council’s cabinet member for local services.

By processing food waste close to where it is produced at the Newton Aycliffe facility, the partnership also minimises transport emissions and provides Darlington with a reliable, locally rooted service.

The remaining digestate, a nutrient-rich organic biofertiliser, is returned to local farmland to support food production.

We’re proud to be working with Darlington Borough Council on something that feels genuinely significant. Simpler Recycling has brought households into this system in a way we haven’t seen before; the scale of participation is new, and that means the scale of impact can be too. Food waste has always had value. In Darlington, that value doesn’t stop at the gate of our facility. It goes back into homes and businesses, and back into the farmland that feeds communities. We’re excited to work with Darlington on this truly circular approach, said Iain Pickles, Head of Commercial at Bio Capital.