Addressing a London audience on Wednesday, experts suggested a major increase in food waste collections would be needed to meet the requirements of the government's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme.
” Weekly food waste collections means that garden waste is sent to open-windrow facilities, rather than in-vessel systems, which are cheaper. “
– Dave Mansell, Somerset CC
The scheme forces councils to cut the amount of biodegradable waste they send to landfill each year, under the threat of financial penalties.
Speakers at the event in Croydon on Tuesday said food waste now makes up the largest fraction of the household waste stream in many areas.
Only about 13 councils are collecting food waste separately at the moment according to Bristol-based consultancy Eunomia. About 50 authorities in total are collecting food waste either separately or commingled with green waste.
Somerset
But Somerset county council, which is already taking in food waste from 155,000 homes, said it had found the waste streams together was prohibitively expensive.
David Mansell, the county's recycling development officer, said Somerset's household waste composition is now 27% food waste, more than paper and card (25% of household waste).
Mr Mansell revealed: “It was too expensive for us to collect food and garden waste together, weekly food waste collections means that garden waste is sent to open-windrow facilities, rather than in-vessel systems, which are cheaper. Collections also target material with a high potential for recycling.”
Collections were also shown to be cheaper than other kerbside services because food waste compacts itself, removing the need for high-tech compaction refuse vehicles.
Capture
Mr Mansell said an added benefit was that weekly food collections in Somerset had made fortnightly refuse collections more acceptable to residents. He reported: “The capture rate is high. We are now catching over 50% of food waste, so we are pretty happy.”
Waste treatment firm Greenfinch said plants like its anaerobic digester in Ludlow, Shropshire, operated well with separate food waste collections. Director Michael Chesshire also pointed out that food waste schemes would mean residual waste bins causing fewer problems for residents.
He said: “Kitchen waste should be collected weekly and should be collected separately. With weekly collection of kitchen waste, residual waste is odour-free and uncontaminated.”
Focus
Dominic Hogg, of consultancy Eunomia, said his organisation is now investigating the issue.
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He said: “Food waste is the biggest fraction of the waste stream and is also biodegradable. But capture rates are abysmally low, with around 1.9% of the largest biodegradable fraction being targeted for collection, which seems rather odd. Surely it is an area that deserves some focus.”
Mr Hogg said: “It is possible to target investment in the treatment of food waste more effectively by collecting it separately. We are investigating ways to integrate the best outcome for both the collection authority and the disposal authority.”
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