Food landfill ban would have to be affordable

The government would need to be satisfied that banning food waste from landfill was affordable to businesses before proposing such a measure, recycling minister Lord de Mauley has said.

The comments came after former environment secretary John Gummer urged the government to consider banning food waste from landfill during a debate on the issue in the House of Lords on Tuesday (February 12).

Mr Gummer, also known by the title Lord Deben, served as the secretary of state for the environment between 1993-1997 and oversaw the introduction of the landfill tax, and argued that banning food waste from landfill would boost the food waste recycling infrastructure within the UK.

The debate was tabled by Conservative peer Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, who argued that food waste is costing the average household in the UK an estimated 640 a year and asked what plans were in place to encourage a reduction of food waste in the UK.

Retailers

In response, Lord de Mauley commented that the government is working with retailers, manufacturers and the hospitality sector to reduce food waste, through the voluntary agreement launched by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in 2012, as well as the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, aimed at householders.

But, when asked by Mr Gummer if the government would consider an outright ban on sending food waste to landfill, Lord de Mauley said that better understanding of the food waste treatment infrastructure and what the cost to businesses and councils would be before a decision could be made.

He said: We have committed to reviewing the case for restrictions on sending particular materials to landfill over the course of this Parliament, including looking specifically at textiles and biodegradable waste. We are focusing on collecting the evidence.

Our experience from working on wood has shown us that a good understanding of the data, waste streams, markets and other issues are vital to making informed decisions. Before making proposals on restricting any particular materials, the government will need to be content that that is the best-value way of moving material up the waste hierarchy and that the costs to businesses-and, indeed, to the public sector- are affordable.

A consultation on banning waste wood from landfill was carried out last year (see letsrecycle.com story), but following comments from wood recyclers and industry Defra decided that it would not impose a ban.

The Labour Party has already revealed that it is considering including a ban on sending food waste to landfill among the policies in its 2015 election manifesto. Shadow Defra Minister Mary Creagh told representatives of the packaging industry at the environmental seminar of the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) last month, that Labour wanted a revolution in the way people look at food (see letsrecycle.com story).