Huge dome will use landfill gas to grow vegetables

A giant dome has been installed at a landfill for the purpose of growing fruit and vegetables using the site's gasses.

The landfill near Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, already generates electricity from methane produced by waste, and makes carbon dioxide as a by-product of this process.

The electricity will be used to power the prototype dome's fruit and veg operation – for heating, lights and fans, for example – while the CO2 will be used to boost plant growth.

The landfill owners, Crapper and Sons, and their community interest company, Sustain Wiltshire, hope to erect more than 100 such domes if planning permission is granted.

The dome's warm air and CO2 will allow fruit and vegetables to be grown out of season – including avocados, which do not normally grow in the UK, the owners say.

The domes are designed to be portable so that areas of the landfill can be re-filled with rubbish to start the methane-capturing process again.

Project director Nick Ash said the dome was a "positively air supported structure" – meaning it will be isolated from the ground to prevent contamination.

It is 65ft by 130ft, and 30ft tall (20m by 40m, and 9m tall).

Horticulturist Raj Erra will be working on the growing operations in the dome.

"It would be a completely climate-controlled dome," she said.

"We don't really have to wait for a particular season."

She will start by growing vegetables such as carrots and onions.

While avocados are possible, Erra said, the trees take a while to grow.

The idea is to provide food for the local area, sold via an app.

Ash said that, when "fully up and running", the plan is to supply 80% of the fruit and vegetable needs of Royal Wootton Bassett, Purton and Brinkworth.

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