Fuel from trash

 It’s your kids Marty, something‘s gotta be done about your kids!

For many families of summer holidays are now over and the kids are back to school. Many families will have squeezed out a week together as part of the six weeks of juggling childcare and work. For us, this took the form of a week in Cumbria bringing part of the family together for a few days. There was plenty of walking, but the main objective and joy was in spending some quality time together. Over two evenings we grouped around the rented TV and binge-watched the back to the future films with takeaway pizza.

Very little quite drums home more the importance of the environment and the future like a week in the Lake District with your children.

the DeLorean's "Mr. Fusion" device powers the time machine by converting ordinary garbage, such as food scraps and beer, into the 1.21 gigawatts needed for time travel.While this technology was science fiction in the movies, The "Mr. Fusion" concept from Back to the Future has, in a way, become a reality. It highlights the importance of food waste recycling and the development of renewable energy technologies. Today, organic waste is converted into biogas or biomethane, a renewable energy source that can fuel vehicles and heat homes.

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  Biogas and Biomethane: 

  The process of turning food waste into energy is now known as creating biogas or biomethane. 
• Anaerobic Digestion: 

  In controlled environments, organic waste is broken down by bacteria to create methane, which is then captured and used to produce energy. 
• Applications: 

  This renewable gas is used to fuel public transportation systems, such as buses in cities, and power homes. 
• Environmental Benefits: 

  Instead of food waste releasing potent greenhouse gases like methane when sent to landfill, converting it to biogas helps combat climate change by producing a renewable energy source and reducing harmful emissions.

  
  

  Sweden 

  
  

  In Sweden, yesterday’s dinner scraps are powering tomorrow’s commutes. Through an advanced recycling system, the country transforms food waste from homes, restaurants, and supermarkets into bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) — a clean, renewable fuel that runs public buses across cities. It’s a brilliant loop where leftovers don't just rot — they ride.

  
  

  The process begins with household food waste collection, where scraps are separated and sent to biogas plants. There, the waste undergoes anaerobic digestion — a process where microbes break it down in oxygen-free tanks, producing methane-rich gas. This biogas is then purified, compressed, and pumped into buses as fuel, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and cutting urban emissions drastically.

  
  

  Swedish cities like Linköping have become models for this circular system. Buses there run almost entirely on food waste-derived bio-CNG, creating cleaner air and quieter streets. The same technology is used to fuel garbage trucks and taxis, turning waste collection into an energy source in itself.

  
  

  This innovation is more than just green transport — it’s a mindset. Sweden’s approach shows how everyday waste can become a resource when combined with the right infrastructure and public cooperation. It connects kitchens to city streets, turning trash into travel — and leftovers into motion.

  
  

  Japan

  
  

  In Japan clothes recycler JEPLAN, was also inspired by the Trash fuelled DeLorean in back to the future.  the company is changing the face of fashion with its mission to achieve a circular economy. Pleasingly, they are reusing cotton fibre rather than recycling plastic irreversibly into a T-shirts. A scarf made using its technology became an official Japanese government gift at the G20.

  “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads” - but old clothes will certainly be useful is the concept that clothes recycling group JEPLAN gave when it created a replica of the DeLorean powered by recycled t-shirts rather than weapons-grade plutonium.