About us
A friendly, experienced, multidisciplinary team
LEAP is dedicated to finding sustainable solutions for food and other organic wastes in ways that engage communities, generate employment and protect the environment, creating the circular economy from the ground up.
We combine community-scale anaerobic digestion, composting, mushroom cultivation and food growing using raised beds and hydroponics to build circular solutions that meet site-specific needs.
We can adapt our model to support people living in areas where its difficult to grow food or access fuel and fertiliser - places that need to make the most of space and resources, like off-grid rural communities or refugee camps.
We believe working together is key to transitioning towards a more sustainable future.
OUR VISION is to inspire networks of decentralised, circular food hubs, contributing to a world where people and the planet thrive, where communities, businesses, schools and universities benefit from their own bioresources including better access to healthy, sustainably-grown food.
NATURE-INSPIRED The complex ecosystems that sustain life on the planet, teaches us how collaborate, across species, elements and scales.
Nature uses aerobic and anaerobic processes to decompose organic wastes.
Composting happens in the open air, while digestion takes place in sealed tanks in the absence of oxygen.
Composting breaks down organic wastes into a fibre-rich material that contains nutrients, microbes, fungi and other soil fauna.
When added to the soil it supports soil ecosystems, increases water retention, boosts fertility and sequesters carbon.
Anaerobic digestion transforms organic wastes into biogas, which is 60% methane can can be used for cooking, heating, generating electricity and as a vehicle fuel.
It also produces a liquid biofertiliser called digestate, which contains all the recovered water, nutrients and a some fibre.
When made from food waste, it is high in nitrogen - essential for green leafy growth - and can replace synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.
Composting and anaerobic digestion produce complementary by-products. They can be used together or individually, depending on site needs.
DID YOU KNOW?
In the UK, an estimated 10 million tonnes of food waste is generated with much of it ending up in incineration or landfill, either reducing incinerator efficiency or releasing methane and CO2 into the atmosphere. from landfill.
Methane is 86x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and responsible for over 90% of the global warming effect. It can be safely recovered during anaerobic digestion and used for cooking, electricity generation, heating, and as a vehicle fuel.
Sheffield University found 43% of the carbon footprint of supermarket bread came from the energy used to make the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser to grow the wheat! Producing one tonne of fertiliser consumes a tonne of fossil oil and 108 tonnes of water, generating 7 tonnes of carbon. Anaerobic digestion and composting recovers nitrogen from biowastes in an energy-efficient, low carbon way.
Meet the team
OUR TEAM combines circular design, mechanical engineering, training, and food growing skills. We've developed circular models and demonstrations for the European Commission, LLDC, GLA and Innovate UK, working with universities including Brunel, Leeds, Sheffield and UCL.
Guy Blanch BSc Hons - Co-Founder and Technical Director
Guy has 25-years experience developing equipment in agricultural and waste sectors and collaborating with AD operators to produce integrated systems. He has many research trial platforms for UK and overseas clients, with commercialisation and production development the key drivers. His main focus is on R&D engineering for LEAP, Loowatt and Alvan Blanch, designing and fabricating AD technologies including micro digesters, maceration, pre-feed, pasteurisation and biomethane upgrading equipment. He is passionate about bringing the benefits of micro AD to communities in the UK and other cold climates as well as to developing countries.
Rokiah Yaman MA – Co Founder and Managing Director
Rokiah’s coordinates the LEAP demonstration sites, oversees fundraising and planning activities, and manages infrastructure and operational logistics. She is keen to bring micro AD technology and the closed-loop ethos into public spaces where people can see and understand the concept and its benefits. Her approach to working with the community has evolved through projects focused on community health and wellbeing, public engagement, community arts, environmental education and micro AD technology development. She has successfully managed collaborative projects for Innovate UK, EC, WRAP, LB Camden, LLDC and Belmont.
Our Makers
Caspar Eden
Workshop Coordinator
Experienced fabricator with expertise in plasma cutting, oxy propane heating and cutting, MIG/MMA mild steel welding, building from design and site installations, Caspar is responsible for translating system designs into working systems in our workshop.
Virginie Cugny
Project Manager
A multi-skilled hands-on and creative maker, Virginie worked for 13 years as the prototyping lead at Dyson plus a year as Programme and Project Manager Analyst, as well as 2 years in special effects make-up. She uses Agile methodology to plan and implement projects from start to finish.
Iain Purves
Design Technician
Iain draws on over a decade of mechanical engineering expertise, building anaerobic digesters for Loowatt., where he designed and oversaw the construction of pilot systems, in Madagascar. Iain now designs LEAP AD systems, producing CAD drawings, and H&S studies.
Our Growers
Katrina Wright
Sustainable Gardening
Katrina is an experienced horticulturist specialising in sustainable gardening practices. She leads circular food-growing initiatives, provides green skills training, and advocates for sustainable education within the community.
Waldemar Rebelo Junior
Hydroponics
Junior is a hydroponics specialist with a background in microgreen cultivation and graphic design. He now focuses on innovative growing techniques, helping expand sustainable food production while supporting community-driven initiatives.
Alani Shafiq
Mushroom Cultivation
Alani's journey through agroforestry, eco-construction, and holistic living led to a deep passion for fungi and food justice. They are committed to holistic alternatives to extractive capitalist structures while fostering abundance and equity for all living beings.
Training, Marketing and Comms
Shahara Khaleque
Marketing and Comms
Shahara has a diverse background as a software engineer, permaculture educator, and biodynamic farmer. She now focuses on empowering food-growing initiatives by driving audience growth and product sales.
Ana Rios
Training and Workshops
Ana is an outdoor educator, gardener and passionate herbalist who finds joy in fostering learning experiences in schools and community gardens. Her mission is to sow seeds of curiosity and growth that flourish beyond walls, nurturing a generation of mindful caretakers of our planet.
Expert Advisors
Angela Bywater - Senior AD Consultant
Angela has a background in IT and project management, having worked for a number of well-known UK companies, including House of Fraser and Sun Life of Canada. Since 2001, she has since been involved in a number of AD reports and projects; notably for the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE), which attracted significant worldwide interest; for Glasu (Welsh Government) on Farm AD & chicken manure; for the International Energy Agency Task 37 on small-scale AD; and RE-fuelling the Countryside for the RASE. A mine of useful information, Angie is currently working on setting up the UK’s AD Network and coordinates ADnet, a BBSRC funded initiative aimed at furthering innovation and promoting cutting-edge AD research.
James Murcott – Senior AD Engineer
James is the founder and director of Methanogen UK Ltd, a British company, built on 40 years’ experience of designing, manufacturing and building anaerobic digesters for farms, sewage treatment, food waste and abattoirs. He also founded Farmgas, the UK’s largest AD company in 1974. His UK farm digesters alone have a combined operating time of more than 400 years and his company WRI created a market for their award-winning AD compost. His latest designs include a range of micro-scale digesters and full-scale automatic de-gritting digesters, the latter a major AD innovation, allowing gritty feedstocks such as unwashed sugar beet and slurry from cows bedded on sand to be fed directly to the digester. A well respected in the UK’s AD sector, James brings a wealth of expertise to LEAP’ team.