ONLINE ORDERINGBia Energy and ABP — Digestate
Turning Food Waste into Farm Resilience
At our Vendor 2027 Conference, held under the theme of Elevate, we shared a simple message: sustainability must continue to evolve if we are to strengthen our businesses, support our customers, and help build resilient food supply chains for the future.
One example of this thinking in action is our collaboration with ABP and Bia Energy, which is helping to create a more circular approach to food production.
For several years, Bia Energy has collected food waste from Sysco Ireland sites and processed it through anaerobic digestion. This process converts food waste into biomethane, which can be used to generate renewable energy, while also producing a nutrient-rich by-product known as digestate.
Digestate can be used as an alternative to synthetic fertiliser, helping to return valuable nutrients to agricultural soils and supporting more efficient nutrient management on farms.
Through this partnership, food waste is transformed into valuable resources that contribute to renewable energy generation and agricultural production.
Closing the Loop
This year, we explored how to take the initiative one step further.
Working alongside ABP as part of our regenerative agriculture programme, we identified an ABP supplier to trial the use of digestate on grassland used to rear cattle that ultimately supply the ABP and Sysco Ireland supply chain.
The project is designed to examine how nutrients recovered from food waste can be returned to the land, creating a more circular system that connects food production, consumption, resource recovery, and farming.
Pending the outcome of the trial, we hope to expand the initiative and engage additional farmers and growers across Dublin, Meath, Louth and surrounding regions who are interested in utilising digestate within their farming systems.
Find out more about the initiative in our video created in partnership with Bia Energy & ABP:
Interested in Getting Involved?
If you are interested in learning more about Bia Energy’s services, please contact Garreth Ritchie (garreth.ritchie@biaenergy.ie) Commercial Director at Bia Energy or if you want to find out more about the potential use of digestate within your business or farm, please contact Shane O’Brien, Agri Lead at Bia (shane.obrien@biaenergy.ie), or Sysco Sustainability Team irl-sustainability@sysco.com
We look forward to sharing further updates on this initiative and other sustainability projects as we continue working with our partners to build a more resilient food supply chain.