Image courtesy of Bournemouth Borough Council

Environmental products and services group Straight plc, has been awarded a £550,000 contract from Bournemouth Borough Council to provide waste containers for the its upcoming food waste collection service.

The new service, set to launch across Bournemouth ‘early next year’, is to be rolled out across households in the aim of increasing recycling rates and saving money, through reduced disposal costs (such as landfill tax).

According to the council, around 38 per cent (17,000 tonnes) of waste thrown away by Bournemouth residents is food, which ‘costs the public purse an increasing amount of money in disposal costs’. Once implemented, the weekly collection service is expected to collect an average of 1.25kg of food waste per person (per week).

Councillor Michael Filer, portfolio holder for Transport, Cleansing & Waste, explained: “By separating food waste from the general rubbish, food waste can be used to make high quality compost or create renewable energy instead. This scheme will have two major benefits, reduced costs and so savings in Council Tax, and major benefits for the Green Economy."

Details of Straight bins

Under the contract, Straight plc will provide residents living in flats with its new 12-litre Food Waste Inner Caddy (FWIC), which was developed specifically for the council and launched to the wider market at the RWM Exhibition on Tuesday (10 September). The FWIC can hold up to nine kilogrammes of food waste, and will sit inside a 140-litre wheeled bin for dry recycables, providing ‘two separate streams for collection and recycling within one container'.

Those living in houses will receive a Straight Kitchen Caddy for indoor use, the Kerbside Caddy for outdoor use, and Compost-a-Bag food waste liners.

In light of the contract, Georgina Lamb, Waste and Resource Projects Manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “As the market leader in the industry, and with its expertise in the manufacture of inner caddy products, Straight was a natural partner for the development of this product. Use of the new inner caddy containers should demonstrate value for money, increase recycling performance and deliver significant environmental benefits through waste reduction."

Jonathan Straight, founder and Chief Executive of Straight plc, said: "We are delighted to have been invited to fulfil this contract and that the pioneering spirit we are well known for continues to go from strength to strength."

Many households will automatically receive the new containers ‘in late 2013’, but properties that share communal bins will need to be assessed before being provided with the service. This is ‘to ensure food waste pick-up is possible and [evaluate] if any extra measures need to be put in place’. Residents living in such households are therefore encouraged to register their interest in the waste collection service before it is rolled out early next year.

Filer added: “We are very keen to get as many residents in flats to sign-up to the scheme as early as possible as there is a little bit of extra preparation the Council’s Recycling Team need to do, so we would urge all flat residents to get in touch as soon as possible."

Residents can join the scheme either by calling 01202 451199 or emailing recycle@bournemouth.gov.uk.

Read more about Bournemouth Borough Council’s new waste collection scheme.