Energy from grass cuttings

The trial is part of a £4 million project which is funded by the Department of Transport.

In partnership with West Sussex Council, the Greenprint project is investigate ways in which cuttings could be used to make biogas, biomethane fuel for vehicles and an additive for asphalt road surfacing material called biochar.

Greenprint is part of ADEPT Live Labs 2, a 3-year, UK-wide £30 million programme funded by the Department for Transport and developed by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) that aims to decarbonise the local highway network.

Energy from grass cuttings | BETA - South Gloucestershire Council (southglos.gov.uk)

Greenprint Live Labs 2 FAQs (PDF)

Greenprint - creating energy from grass cuttings

Update – March 2025

Over the past two years, South Gloucestershire Council has been taking a different approach to managing selected grass verges and green spaces at specific sites across South Gloucestershire as part of the Live Labs 2 (Greenprint) project.

This spring, we will begin the new cutting season in Bradley Stoke on the green spaces and verges included in the project.

Greenprint showcases the power of innovation and collaboration in addressing environmental challenges. Through experimentation and investigation, the project is paving the way for a more sustainable future in highway verge maintenance.

Last year, during the second year of the project, we collected 377 tonnes of grass from across 36 hectares of Council maintained grassland in South Gloucestershire - equivalent to over 50 football pitches.

The table below shows the weight of cut grass collected in your area during the 2024 season, with the dates of each cut carried out in the green spaces and verges included in the project:

A browser map of the Greenprint plots included in the project during the 2025 season can be viewed here:

South Gloucestershire Map Layers WebMap2511

(Click on the three horizontal lines in the top left-hand corner to reveal the Map Features – Live Labs plots are coloured red; all the other plots are coloured violet. Clicking on an individual plot will reveal its identity – including the plot number and site code).

Collecting the grass cuttings, rather than leaving them on the ground as traditionally done, has several benefits:

• Reduces carbon emissions from decomposing cuttings
• Increases carbon capture within the soil
• Enhances the biodiversity of the verges and green spaces

As part of the project, we are trialling converting the cuttings into energy to generate valuable resources such as biofuel, biomethane, and biochar - turning waste into wealth.

As we move into the third year of the project, over the next couple of months we will be sharing more information about the achievements of year two and what our focus will be for year three.

During year three the impact of our trials on costs and carbon emissions will become clearer, which will help inform the decision about whether the changes are scaled up or made permanent in future.

A key goal of Greenprint is to create a scalable system toolkit, or 'green print,' that other local authorities can use to implement this carbon-negative green infrastructure management model in their areas, paving the way for a more sustainable future in highway verge maintenance.

Greenprint is part of ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK, which is a three-year, UK-wide £30 million programme funded by the Department for Transport, (DfT), that aims to decarbonise the local highway network.

For more information about the project, visit: www.southglos.gov.uk/Greenprint