Waitrose is to power the specially-designed tractors at its Leckford Estate farm with methane produced by cow manure in a UK supermarket first.
The process, which builds on the upmarket retailer’s commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its own operations by 2035 and supply chain by 2050, sees the manure produced by the farm’s 500 cattle stored and harvested in a new biomethane storage plant, The Grocer reported.
The facility on the Leckford farm features a covered lagoon which has been extended to the size of two Olympic swimming pools.
This catches methane emissions from the manure which is later refined into biomethane gas.
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The supermarket has said it will be able to save up to 1,300 tonnes of carbon per year as a result of the facility which has been designed and created with Bennamann and New Holland.
Waitrose executive director, James Bailey, said: “Two years ago, we challenged ourselves to use Leckford as an experiment in farming best practices, to pave the way for genuine solutions to help conserve our soil, air, and water for future generations, and our biomethane lagoon does just that.
“An innovative example to help our farm and hopefully other farms reach net zero.”
This comes as Waitrose is also helping to reduce the environmental impact across its supply chain through cross-collaboration with its sister company, John Lewis.
Almost three years ago the supermarket set up a mattress supply chain taking wool from its higher welfare farm to produce the John Lewis classic range of mattresses.
Off the back of that, Waitrose higher welfare beef farmers began supplying John Lewis with leather used for its own-label sofas and chairs in June.
