Business food waste targeted with 500,000 fund

The fund will be managed by WRAP over three years on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It will give the private sector, local authorities and social enterprises the economic support for developing demonstration projects to show good practice and encourage the further development of food waste collection services from businesses in England.

It will support greater recycling of food waste by anaerobic digestion and improved provision of recycling services to businesses, particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Collection schemes eligible for the fund are those servicing commercial businesses such as restaurants, hotels and catering firms, and public sector organisations including council offices and other public sector buildings such as schools. Household food waste collections do not qualify.

Opportunity

Launching the fund, recycling minister Lord Taylor said: This new fund will give businesses and community groups a better opportunity to find ways that actually work for them to keep food out of landfill.

People want to do the right thing, and we know that a one-size-fits-all approach doesnt work for business waste collection. We need to see innovative solutions put forward that will help set businesses on the path to a zero-waste economy.

A collection tonnage target will be agreed for each successful applicant over a two-year period and WRAP will work with successful recipients to provide advice on service development and implementation as required.

All collected food waste must be recycled through an anaerobic digestion (AD) or In vessel composting (IVC) process in England. The fund begins on January 1 2012.

Interest

Linda Crichton, head of collections & quality at WRAP, who oversees the fund, said: There has been a good level of interest expressed during the development of this fund. The maximum value of a grant under this current round will be 100,000 per applicant and this can be used towards capital items such as vehicles, collection bins and caddies, or for labour and overheads costs.

She added: Applications will be assessed against published criteria, and must demonstrate good practice approaches to collecting business food waste, as well as outlining ways of both reducing service costs and maximising food waste recycling.

In February 2011, WRAP published a report on collecting food waste from small businesses and schools, which said there was an opportunity for local authorities to increase their commercial waste service provision to include food waste, with both environmental and social benefits.