Choosing the correct trailer to carry digestate at 44 tonnes on UK roads depends on what comes out of the AD plant. Fibre digestate is a wet, sticky solid like compost; whole and liquid digestate behaves like slurry. Both are valuable fertilisers, both smell, and both have to reach farmland within tight spreading windows.
Short answer: the best trailer for carrying solid digestate in the UK is a Knapen biomass or standard moving floor, or a watertight plank sided tipper, with a Knapen floor fitted with a liquid liner for whole digestate. Newton Trailers of Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, sells, hires and services these trailers across the UK. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for digestate in the UK.
Newton Trailers' current first choice trailer for the transport of Digestate is:
Recommended First Choice Trailer: Knapen Biomass Moving Floor or Watertight Plank Tipper
Recommended Second Choice Trailers: Knapen Standard Moving Floor; STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer; Knapen Moving Floor with Liquid Liner (whole digestate)
Recommended Sales Options: Watertight Rear Door Seal; Automatic Roll Over Sheet; Liquid Liner; VWS Weigher
Seasonal Hire: Yes - spreading peaks in spring and after harvest; AD plants produce digestate all year, so storage and haulage have to keep pace.
TASCC Product: No - digestate is not a permissible load for TASCC-registered trailers, so keep it to non-TASCC trailers.
Product Density: 800 - 1,000 kgs/m3 (fibre)
Trailer Volume: 70 - 130 cuyd
Region: Nationwide - AD plants to arable and grassland farms
UK anaerobic digestion processes over 25 million tonnes of organic material a year; England alone produced an estimated 7.5 million tonnes of digestate in 2018.
Wet fibre digestate is heavy, so a full 29 tonne payload is reached in around 30 - 36 m3. A weigher is essential - digestate density varies with moisture.
Anaerobic digestion has grown into a major UK industry, processing over 25 million tonnes of organic material a year - crops, manures and food waste. What comes out is digestate, a nutrient-rich fertiliser that goes back onto farmland. WRAP estimated England produced 7.5 million tonnes in 2018, and nearly all of it was applied to agricultural land.
That creates a steady two-way flow: feedstock in, digestate out. The most efficient operators combine the two on one trailer.
The big development is two-way trailers. A Knapen moving floor fitted with an Exeler Liquid X Liner carries biomass feedstock into the AD plant and 26 m3 of liquid digestate back out, pumped in and out in around 8 minutes. For fibre digestate, a moving floor or watertight tipper does the job.
Digestate Trailer Option: Watertight rear door seal. Keeps liquid digestate in the trailer.
Digestate Trailer Option: Liquid liner. Turns a moving floor into a two-way feedstock and digestate trailer.
Digestate Trailer Option: Automatic roll over sheet. Contains smell and keeps rain out.
Digestate Trailer Option: VWS Weigher. Digestate density varies - a weigher keeps you legal.
A Knapen moving floor or watertight plank tipper for fibre digestate, and a Knapen floor with a liquid liner for whole digestate.
England produced an estimated 7.5 million tonnes in 2018, and UK AD plants process over 25 million tonnes of material a year.
Yes. A Knapen moving floor with an Exeler Liquid X Liner carries biomass in and liquid digestate out.
Yes. Newton Trailers offers moving floor trailer hire and tipping trailer hire, as well as new and used trailers for sale. Call 01525 872466.
Digestate trailers also carry AD plant feedstock. See our guides to trailers for AD Plant feedstock, silage and maize.
UK anaerobic digestion throughput: AIC written evidence to Parliament. England digestate production 2018: WRAP survey (via REA). Density, payload and trailer recommendations: Newton Trailers.
Page last updated: September 2026. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for digestate in the UK.
| Best Match | Options | Volume | Payload | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | STAS Watertight Tipping Trailer | Sales Information: STAS Watertight saw tooth door operation 15000 Litre Water Tested Over Night Sales Options - Drainage board and 6 taps |
64 CuYds (48.9m3) | 29750kg |
| Used | 2021 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | New SDC Watertight Tipping Trailer | 65 CuYds (49.7m3) | 29500kg | |
| Also See | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2024 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2023 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
