At R-Urban Poplar, a repurposed car park on the Teviot Estate, the community digester is converting food scraps into biogas that will heat a local sauna.
Anaerobic digestion breaks down organic material without oxygen, releasing methane‑rich gas and nutrient‑laden digestate that can fertilise the site's allotments and support local mushroom cultivation.
MAD LEAP says the digester can manage up to 900 kg of waste per week, roughly a quarter of the 535‑household estate's output, and aims to keep the waste within the neighbourhood.
The sauna, still in testing, will run on the biogas stream, making it the first community‑powered sauna globally, the organisers claim, and they expect full operation by the end of 2026.
If the pilot proves successful, the team plans to scale the system, potentially handling a larger share of local waste and expanding biogas use to cooking and hot water, while the broader R-Urban Poplar hub hosts workshops and green‑skills programmes.