Financial crisis hits Northants kitchen waste plans

And, the Partnership – which represents Northamptonshire county council as well as district and borough councils within the authority – has said that the service is now unlikely to be introduced until the latter part of 2012. The scheme was believed to be intended to be rolled out in April 2009.

The announcement comes after Hertfordshire county council discontinued its mixed plastic recycling scheme at household waste recycling centres in November (see letsrecycle.com story) and appears to further contradict claims made by the LGA last week that councils were not cutting back recycling services (see letsrecycle.com story).

Councillor Ben Smith, Northamptonshire county council member for environment, said: “No one could foresee just what an impact the downturn in the economy would have and conditions are just not suitable to introduce a project of this magnitude in the county at this time.

“I think this is sensible budget management and we must remember that the project has not been scrapped, it has just been temporarily deferred,” he added.

However, the Northamptonshire Waste Partnership was keen to emphasise that it was a temporary measure and it still intends to introduce a doorstep collections of kitchen food waste which could not normally be composted at home – such as meat and cooked food – for it to then be taken to a treatment facility.

Councillor Chris Millar, chairman of the NWP, said: “Overall the workings of the project are sound and when the service is implemented this will be an excellent scheme for Northampton.

“But the budget constraints affecting many councils at the moment means that now is not the right time for it to be given the go ahead,” he added.

The NWP has claimed that residents in East Northamptonshire may see the introduction of a scheme earlier than other authorities, as East Northamptonshire council intends to introduce a scheme for its residents in 2011.