Stale food 'to avoid landfill and create energy'

British supermarket Sainsbury's has announced that it will send food unsuitable for sale to biomass plants in the future, rather than landfill sites.

The 42 tonnes of waste food produced weekly by the chain's Scottish stores will go to biomass plants to produce electricity, it stated.

These plans are a part of the supermarket's aim to reduce landfill waste to zero by the end of 2009.

"Each tonne of food waste diverted from landfill by Sainsbury's will generate enough power for 500 homes and will save three tonnes of CO2 compared to fossil fuels," said Alison Austin, environment manager for Sainsbury's.

She added that Scotland's 28 branches are "at the forefront" of the company's plans to stop using landfill sites in the UK.

Meanwhile, a landfill site in Salem in the US state of Massachusetts recently experienced a surge in visitors after a storm left debris strewn in gardens and roads, reported the Statesman Journal.