Organics2Power
Our new ReFood site in Mszczonów, Poland, that will transform 44,000 tons of organic residues into biogas, green electricity, and organic fertilizer each year.
Key Developments
At O2P, we remained steadfast in our commitment to biofuel production in 2023. On August 30, we laid the foundation stone for our factory in Grandpuits (France) where we will produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel in collaboration with TotalEnergies. Only a week later, we opened a new ReFood site in Mszczonów (Poland) that will transform 44,000 tons of organic residues into biogas, green electricity and organic fertilizer each year. In order to improve quality, health and safety as well as environmental management, we introduced a tool that allows our sites in Spain, France and Poland to understand the specific regulatory framework they are operating in and assess their degree of compliance.
Further, to raise awareness among our employees for broader sustainability topics, we introduced three e-learning courses: “An introduction to sustainability”, “What is water crisis?” and “Agenda 2030 & SDGs”.
We have been busy buzzing. We installed beehives at our sites in three countries to study and promote biodiversity – and supply our employees with delicious honey.
Project Highlights
At ReFood, we are looking for possibilities to cut emissions even in unusual ways. In the UK, we invested in a new fleet that permits us not only to collect leftover food bins, but also to wash and disinfect them within the truck. This comes with two benefits: it saves time for us and our customers because the bins do not have to be taken away for cleaning and then returned. And it also reduces mileage and significant CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, we are also pursuing traditional methods of transport emissions reduction. In the UK, we established a 100% hybrid vehicle fleet for all company cars, and in Germany and Spain, we tested four different e-trucks which will be trailed in daily use by ReFood.
Generating economic and environmental value also ranks high at SecAnim, Germany. Implementing the ISO 50001-certified energy management system, the people at our site in Lampertheim-Hüttenfeld systematically identified the largest consumers of energy in their facilities. An electric air purifier used to filter out odorants such as hydrogen sulfide as well as other gases turned out to be the major culprit. Because the purifier’s motor could only be operated on two power settings, it could not be properly adjusted to varying quantities of exhaust air. Replacing the motor with an infinitely adjustable motor that allows demand-driven control saves us a remarkable 120,000 kWh each year.