Tidy Planet ships food waste tech to the Sahara Desert

Article posted on 03.06.2019

Two of our Gobi Dryers – heavy-duty food waste reduction systems – have been sent to the heart of the Sahara Desert, to help with organic food waste management for a major oil and gas project.

The equipment has been commissioned to deal with the large quantities of food waste generated from the workers’ canteens at one of the world’s largest gas fields – spanning 2,000km².

Designed to process high volumes of catering wastes – as well as packaged foods – our Gobi drying systems quickly convert surplus food materials into a non-putrescible biomass resource, helping oil and gas sites to manage their organic waste disposal with greater ease.

One of the major benefits of the system is that the continuous dehydration and mixing of the organic waste drastically reduces its overall volume – by up to 90% – making it a much more sustainable option for remote locations where waste disposal access is trickier.

And this is one of the primary drivers behind our recent project.

The two units we’ve shipped to Africa are each able to process up to four tonnes of food waste per week – a solution similar to the one we supplied back in 2015-16 for a gas pipeline extension across Georgia and Azerbaijan. The drying technology is used to reduce the volume of food wastes – extracting moisture, shredding and ultimately converting the organic feedstock into a dried, sanitised and inert powder.

The resulting coffee-granule-like residue can be stored for numerous weeks without any further decomposition taking place, before it is then shipped away for off-site processing.

Commenting on the project, our sales manager Huw Crampton, said: “With temperatures easily rising to over 50°C in the summer months, the new process prevents the food waste posing any health risks to workers, removes any unpleasant odour, and reduces the chance of attracting vermin to the site.

“There’s no denying that the remote location of the site makes organic waste disposal difficult – as well as costly – so the two drying units will help contribute to both a healthy bottom-line, as well as a reduced environmental footprint too.

 “We’re extremely proud to have been chosen for another global oil and gas project, and we have many more in the pipeline – pardon the pun.”

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