In her opening address at the Conference, organised by letsrecycle.com, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy had quoted a figure of “£55 million” which would be needed to roll out separate collections of food waste by all councils in England. However, the figures was contested by some audience members and the panel.
The former Shadow Environment Secretary said: “Defra’s chief scientist Ian Boyd has said it would cost £55 million to deliver mandatory food waste collections, and it does seem to have his support.
“I really hope we see ambitious moves on recycling and food waste reduction in the department’s 25-year Environment Plan.”
She added: “I still believe we need a regulatory approach to food waste if Courtauld does not deliver. We also need to set a target alongside that already in place in Scotland. MEPs have included a 30% food waste reduction measure in the Circular Economy Package so we need to bring it in line.”
Contested
The £55 million figure was contested by one delegate in the audience – who claimed it had cost the Welsh Government £70 million to support food waste collections across the country’s 22 city and borough councils.
Applying this same calculation to England, he estimated it would cost significantly more for those who do not currently collect food waste separately from other materials to change their services.
ADBA
Fellow panellist Charlotte Morton, chief executive of the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association, attempted to shed light on where the figure had come from.
She claimed the £55 million rollout cost had first been highlighted by WRAP during discussions over the Collections Consistency Framework.
The Framework was overseen by a Steering Group established in 2015 in order to find ways of harmonising recycling collections across authorities in England.
Consistency
But also sitting on the panel, WRAP’s programme area manager for organics, Mike Falconer-Hall, said it was the “first time” he had heard of the projection.
He said: “This is the first time I have heard that number. If that’s a realistic estimate it is something that needs to be looked at. Personally I would think that estimation is considerably higher.”
WRAP’s final 11-page Consistency Framework report does recommend that local authorities in England adopt separate food waste collections as part of their modelling. However, the £55 million figure is not mentioned in the document.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, WRAP said it did not recognise the figure.
A Welsh Government spokesman also added it did not breakdown funding by different types of collection, confirming it was up to local authorities to decide how to allocate it.
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