Jack Loughran Fri 27 Feb 2026
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2026/02/27/captured-landfill-co2-boost-crop-growth-wiltshire-growing-domes
Researchers are planning to extract gas that has built up under a landfill site in Wiltshire and use it for heat, power and CO2 in a growing dome to create ideal year-round growing conditions for crops.
When organic waste such as food scraps, paper and garden waste break down in a landfill site, it typically decomposes anaerobically due to a lack of oxygen. This process, driven by naturally occurring microorganisms, produces landfill gas mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide that cannot easily escape once the landfill site has been capped.
The Royal Wootton Bassett Crapper and Sons landfill site is now planning to produce purified CO2, captured from the landfill gas-to-power process, which will be pumped into newly erected bio-secure growing domes to promote photosynthesis.
Three times the size of a standard tennis court and twice the height of a London double decker bus, the positively pressured growing dome will be trialled and tested over the coming year. It will use a mix of hydroponics, raised growing beds and plant containers. A broad selection of produce will be grown from the spring.
Sustain Wiltshire
Heat and power from the gas engine will also be combined with ultraviolet horticulture lighting to allow ripening to be accelerated or slowed down, extending the growing season year-round. If expanded around the UK, the project has the potential to put an end to the need for ‘out of season’ produce that’s currently shipped or flown into the UK, the developer said.
Once perfected, Sustain Wiltshire hopes to gain permission for 100 of the 40m x 20m growing domes, which would be erected at the site over the next 10-15 years, ready to feed the local community.
Capable of producing 10 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per growing dome, Sustain Wiltshire aims to supply up to 80% of all fruit and vegetable requirements for Royal Wootton Bassett, Purton and Brinkworth, with future expansion planned to cover Malmesbury.
Nick Ash, project director with Sustain Wiltshire, said: “On this one site alone, we have the potential to produce over 8,000 tonnes of affordable fruit and vegetables annually, creating 130 new jobs while preventing the release of 3,800 tonnes of CO2 each year.
“Rolled out globally, this technology has the potential to change the face of food production as we know it. Combined with plans to capture polymers from landfill plastic that cannot yet be recycled, we believe our Super-Midden solution has the potential to transform the future of landfill internationally, turning it into one of the most climate friendly methods of waste treatment.”
Sustain Wiltshire
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