Preston City Council’s cabinet is to meet on Wednesday (24 September) to discuss the possibility of withdrawing its separate food waste collection service next year, as part of a move to save money.

Separate collections were first introduced to 15,000 properties (around a quarter of householders) in 2005 in an attempt to reduce the amount of residual waste being sent to landfill. However, five years later in 2010, residual waste was being processed via mechanical biological treatment (MBT) instead, as part of Lancashire County Council’s now-terminated private finance initiative (PFI) contract with Global Renewables.

According to the council, by sending food waste in residual waste bins for processing into a low-grade soil improver at the Farington MBT, the council could save nearly £90,000.

However, the vast majority of this (£70,000) would come from removing three posts associated with the service. Currently, the service has two vacant posts pending a decision on the future of the food waste collections and a third could potentially be ‘saved’ through early retirement or voluntary redundancy.

The council has acknowledged that although this treatment method would not be ‘as beneficial as composting the material separately, there is an environmental benefit in this treatment route’.

It is anticipated that removing this service would reduce the council’s recycling rate by approximately one per cent (to 33 per cent), based on current collected tonnages of 520 tonnes. The council also admits that the move could be unpopular with residents.

If the cabinet agrees to ceasing separate food waste collections, the service will be removed from 28 February 2015.

'No impact on operating costs'

Speaking of the fact that Lancashire County Council could soon have to process Preston's food waste, a spokesperson told Resource: "We operate our own mechanical biological treatment facilities, which are not subject to gate fees. The small quantity of food waste referred to is negligible in terms of the overall throughput of the facilities and will have no impact on operating costs.

"The food waste is beneficial in the anaerobic digestion process at our facilities and will assist in the production of energy which in turn will help to offset operating costs.

"Furthermore, Lancashire produces more garden and food waste than our own in-vessel composting facilities can accommodate, particularly during peak summer periods, and as such third party costs are incurred in order to process the additional garden and food waste.

"By treating Preston's food waste through the AD process, some of these additional third party costs can also be avoided."

The council added that is was "acutely aware" of the need for waste collection authorities in Lancashire to reduce collection costs, and by working through the Lancashire Waste Partnership, local councils could "increase efficiency and reduce costs by maximising use of the treatment processes".

Find out more about the MBT in Farington Waste Recovery Park.