J Sainsbury plc (Sainsbury) stores in Scotland will stop sending food waste to landfill by the end of February, 2009 under an innovative new plan. As per the plan, 42 tonnes of waste per week will be collected and taken to a site in Motherwell to be converted into bio-fuel, which can then be used to generate electricity. Sainsbury's aims to stop sending all UK food waste to landfill by this summer but has fast-tracked the plan in Scotland.

Alison Austin, Sainsbury’s environment manager will say: This move underlines our commitment to the Scottish Government’s zero waste ambition.

Each tonne of food waste diverted from landfill by Sainsbury’s will generate enough power for 500 homes and will save 3 tonnes of CO2 compared to fossil fuels.

Scotland is at the forefront of our wider UK plan to completely cut our dependence on landfill. This is the first step in a plan that will see Sainsbury’s stop using landfill for food waste by this Summer and stop using landfill completely by the end of the year.

Businesses throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK need to demonstrate their commitment to finding workable, commercially sound solutions to today’s environmental problems.

The plan that we have developed will not only substantially reduce our landfill usage in Scotland, it will also cut our CO2 emissions as we will be putting far fewer trucks on the road.

Sainsbury’s have enlisted the help of PDM Group.

A single truck will be used to travel to all the Sainsbury’s stores in Scotland to collect the waste and deposit it at the site in Motherwell. By collecting it in this way rather than by using single skips at individual stores, around 336 lorries will be taken off the road.