Wychavon District Council looks set to scrap separate food waste collections after members of the executive board unanimously voted through plans to withdraw the service at a meeting earlier this week (3 September).
Should the full council accept the plans when it convenes on 24 September, the service will be stopped from 10 January 2014.
The recommendation follows a council-led consultation in which 1,700 residents ranked the services they valued most, and those they’d be prepared to lose. Responses showed that 88 per cent of residents viewed scrapping food waste collections as the best way to save money.
According to the council, this result, coupled with the fact that less than 20 per cent of residents are using the £550,000 a year service, makes scrapping it ‘more straightforward than a lot of decisions the council is faced with’. The council has not said how the loss of the food waste service will affect its recycling rates (which last year sat at 44 per cent).
However, it has said that withdrawing the service will help it with its ‘battle’ to save £4 million over 4 years.
Contrasting UK perspectives
In contrast, the Irish government made throwing food waste into the residual waste stream illegal earlier this year (7 March).
The European Union (Household Food Waste and Bio-Waste) Regulations 2013 (which are for Ireland only) were brought in to ‘promote the segregation and recovery of household food waste’ and ensure that food waste is diverted from landfill.
The legislation makes waste collectors legally obliged to introduce a separate collection service for household waste ‘at least once a fortnight’, and householders must keep food waste ‘separate from non-biodegradable materials, other waste and contaminants’ or compost it at home.
Anyone found guilty of breaking these regulations is liable on summary conviction to ‘a class B fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both’, or on conviction on indictment, to ‘a fine not exceeding €500,000 (£436,500) or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both’.
Moreover, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations passed by Scottish Parliament this year, to be enforced in January 2014, will require all kerbside services to householders to include separate collections for food waste (with the exception of rural areas).
Scottish businesses that produce more than 50 kilogrammes (kg) of food waste per week will also need to separate this for collection, and by 2016 this will be extended to those that produce over 5kg.
All local authorities in Wales currently run food waste collection schemes, making England and Northern Ireland the only countries in the British Isles to continue to let local authorities decide whether or not to provide the service.
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