With energy costs continuing to rise, and both businesses and households seeking to operate more responsibly, solutions that can transform waste into an economically beneficial resource are always likely to be well received.
Green technology innovator AmuGreen is the firm behind MyGug, an innovative anaerobic digestion system that converts food waste into renewable biogas and liquid fertiliser, for use in homes, schools, universities and commercial settings. Founded in 2022 by Fiona Kelleher (CEO) and Kieran Coffey (CTO), the Ireland-based firm is looking to expand overseas, with interest from operators in the UK and further afield.
At the recent Business Post ESG & Sustainable Business Summit, SustainabilityOnline caught up with Kelleher to discuss the development of this novel solution.
“MyGug is essentially a food waste energy system,” she says. “Where the value add is, I suppose, is that it generates renewable energy, and at a time like today, when we’re facing energy security problems, this is such a win-win. We’re currently working in various sectors, but where we’re finding that we really are creating a lot of impact is in the education sector – in primary, secondary and in universities as well.”
Future-proof solution
MyGug systems range in size from domestic units to larger digesters capable of processing up to seven tonnes of food waste annually, depending on a home or business’s specific needs – “the bigger you go, the shorter the payback, basically,” says Kelleher.
Domestic units, priced at around €3,500, typically deliver returns over seven or eight years, while larger commercial systems, costing around €15,000 ex-VAT, offer more significant returns. On Cape Clear Island in West Cork, for example, a large-scale MyGug has been employed at a community level, managed by a voluntary team, which helps to reduce waste disposal and generate up to 10 hours of cooking gas daily.
“That’s hugely significant when you think about costs,” says Kelleher. “Another thing that we’ve noticed is that people are looking to future-proof at the moment. They’re not as concerned about the actual payback at this point, they’re more concerned about energy security.
“They might have invested in solar, but if you cook with solar, it drains your battery really quickly. So they’re looking at solutions like MyGug for renewable, cheap energy to cook with.”
Educating the next generation
While AmuGreen didn’t intentionally target the education sector, the business was approached by schools and universities seeking support for climate education, food waste management and sustainability research. A pilot rollout in Cork led to wider adoption across Ireland, with the company now working with institutions such as Technological University Dublin, Atlantic Technological University, University College Cork and Munster Technological University.
“What we’re doing is providing a learning platform for people of all ages to discover what they can do with their food waste,” says Kelleher. “So when you have things like baguettes, soup, yoghurts – these are difficult for composting but brilliant in MyGug. People love how easy it is – one minute you’ve got food going in, and the next, you’re lighting your gas and cooking your pancakes.”
Kelleher adds that AmuGreen plans to expand its educational resources further to help teachers adopt the technology more easily.
“We’d love to be able to provide more solid educational materials to support teachers,” she says. “This is a time when teachers are under increasing pressure and resources are stretched, so if they’re presented with a new technology, they think ‘how can we implement this?’ We want to help with that, and become an ‘ideas engine’, enabling students to innovate across engineering, science, biology, chemistry – you name it. They can use it for horticulture, culinary studies, everything.”
Knowledge base
To date, awareness about anaerobic digestion has been relatively limited in Ireland, with public perception shaped by concerns around industrial-scale plants and pollution – all resulting from a lack of proper messaging and communication, according to Kelleher.
“If we, at an education level, can establish that this is a really trustworthy, really beneficial technology, then that would certainly help – the students that are learning this now will be the innovators of tomorrow,” she says. “Something like solar is easy to understand – it’s almost like osmosis – but with anaerobic digestion, you need to be much more hands-on.”
Further growth
From a scalability point of view, AmuGreen is looking to build a similar ‘from-the-ground-up’ platform in the UK, while Kelleher adds that the solution has already garnered interest from France and other European countries.
“The UK is the next port of call for us,” she says. “We’re working with a partner at the moment that will enable us to roll out into schools across the UK in the first instance, and we’re also getting a lot of traction in B2C.
“There are other players in the market, but we believe there’s nothing like ours that would actually work in every country. So from the point of view of a solution that could be scaled globally, why not?”
Learn more about AmuGreen and MyGug at www.amugreen.com.
