European first for Gironde tomato growers

The fact that tomatoes thrive at sewage farms is well known - but a tomato farm next to a waste storage centre in the Gironde has taken things to a new level.

Greenhouses in which tomatoes are grown at an eight-hectare site in Lapouyade, operated by Peasants de Rougeline, are kept warm by heat recovered from the neighbouring waste storage centre.

Biogas produced by the waste at the facility, which collects and stores 430,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste a year, is used to produce electricity which is sold to energy supplier EDF.

The heat produced by the turbines in turn keeps the tender greenhouse plants warm during cold periods. It is the first cluster of its kind in Europe, but Veolia the global resources management company that manages the area wants to replicate the model at other sites across France.

The company estimated that 10kg of waste will supply enough energy to produce 1kg of tomatoes, and said that the Gironde site could produce up to 5,000 tonnes of fruit a year. It has invested €5million in developing the tomato farm since 2014.

"It is the first centre of its kind in Europe and we will try to reproduce it elsewhere in France in partnership with greenhouse growers," says Sylvie Recrosio, Director of Recycling and Recovery for Veolia Aquitaine.

Peasants de Rougeline sell 70% of the fruit and vegetables they grow within a radius of 150km of the site.