One area which environmental business experts believe is currently being underexploited by Midland firms is the field of biogas.
Environmental politics expert Dr David Toke, senior lecturer in the department of sociology at the University of Birmingham, said recent changes in government policy meant many of the region’s businesses could generate extra income by converting their waste products to energy.
“I think part of the problem is lack of awareness about this,” he said, pointing to businesses in the food production sector, retail sector and farms as potential beneficiaries of the change in policy.
Biogas involves a process where organic matter, such as such as farm and food waste, is broken down by microbacteria in the absence of oxygen.
The Midlands is home to the national demonstration digester in Ludlow, which was designed and built by Shropshire firm Greenfinch, now part of Biogen-Greenfinch.
