East Lothian Council has awarded sack and plastic bag supplier Cromwell Polythene with a contract to supply 7.3 million compostable kitchen caddy liners to its residents for its newly-introduced weekly food waste collection service.
As part of the contract, rolls of Cromwell Polythene’s 52 Ecopond biodegradable bags have already been distributed to East Lothian households. Residents can reorder the sacks, which will then be delivered by the collection crews.
In establishing food waste collections, the council has also collaborated with Merseyside-based bin manufacturer Coral Products, which provided residents with a seven-litre kitchen caddy and a 23-litre outdoor caddy.
East Lothian Council has introduced the weekly food waste kerbside collection scheme in line with legislative targets in an attempt to increase recycling rates, and intends to send the separately-collected food waste to be treated and used as agricultural fertiliser or as an energy source.
This change comes as part of a range of schemes introduced by East Lothian Council to increase its current recycling rate of 44 per cent to meet the Scottish Government’s target of 60 per cent by 2020. Under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, moreover, from 1 January 2016 all occupiers of non-rural properties must receive separate food collections
Some of the other changes to East Lothian’s service include:
- a move to a fortnightly residual waste collection;
- expanding the fortnightly garden waste collection to cover all households;
- retaining existing fortnightly recycling collection for glass, cans and plastics; and
- introducing a trade waste service
7,000 tonnes of food waste unnecessarily sent to landfill
Announcing the new scheme, a council representative said: “Last year, East Lothian council collected nearly 26,000 tonnes of mixed waste from households. Disposing of this cost £2 million in landfill tax alone. Over half of these materials could have been recycled. This included 7,000 tonnes of food waste, which will now be separately collected.”
Tom Reid, East Lothian Waste Services Manager, commented on the Cromwell contract: “I have been extremely impressed with the level of service and standard of product supplied by Cromwell. They listened to our requirements, developed their products to suit East Lothian Council’s need and then delivered on time and in a thoroughly professional manner.”
Find out more about Cromwell Polythene.
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.