Glasgow plans food waste collection trial

At a meeting last Thursday(November 29), the councils executive agreed to apply for funding from Zero Waste Scotland to introduce a nine-month food waste collection trial in June 2013 for 45,8000 householders.

The 708,000 trial would involve kerbside collections from three types of properties – kerbside, flatted and high rise- and would be the precursor to rolling out a kerbside food waste collection service city-wide.

Under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations which came into force in May 2012, all local authorities in Scotland must introduce a separate collection of food waste for residents by January 1 2016. There will also be a ban on all organic material going into landfill sites by the end of 2020.

However, the council said that it knows of no sources of funding to pay for theintroduction of the food waste collectionservice, other than the money for the trial.

Writing in a report put before the council, Councillor James Coleman, executive member for sustainability and transport at Glasgow city council, said: The introduction of this policy will assist in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and increase the amount of waste recycled. This will contribute to conserving resources and energy as less energy and resource is required when reprocessing recycled products as opposed to extracting raw materials.

“Recycling food waste will also assist in protecting the environment by reducing the requirement to extract, process and refine raw materials and reduce greenhouse gas.

Treatment

The food wastes would be treated at local facilities within Scotland central belt at Scottish Waters Deerdykes or Johnstone anaerobic digestion facilities or at the in-vessel composting facility run by Levenseat Waste Management in Lanark.

It is estimated that the pilot will divert 1,592 tonnes from landfill, boosting Glasgows recycling rate by approximately 0.6%.

And, if rolled out citywide, the council estimates that 11,870 tonnes of food wastes will be diverted from landfill, contributing around 4.9% to its household recycling rate.

Glasgow is confident that it will receive funding for the trial, which is expected to create seven new jobs.

The details of the pilot are:

Kerbside properties: This will involve around 32,000 properties along three routes, two in the Polmadie area and one in Dawsholm. Each property will be issued with a five litre and 25 litre caddy bin for the kitchen and kerbside respectively.

Tenements/flatted properties: One dedicated tenement route has been chosen for the pilot. The route will service 1658 tenement closes in the Easter Queenslie area, of approximately 11,600 households. Each property will be issued with a five litre caddy bin. Food waste will be transferred from this into a 240 litre bin which is situated in the back court.

Multi-storey properties: 23 multi-storey blocks in the Polmadie area have been chosen for the pilot, or approximately 2,300 properties. Each property will be issued with a five litre caddy bin. The binmremains inside the house and food is transferred into a 500 litre bin which is situated in a communal bin area next to the multi-storey block.

The council noted that the system it is proposing for kerbside and flatted properties were both similar to those used in Edinburgh, where a food waste collection service was introduced in April 2011 and is due to be rolled out city-wide next year (see letsrecycle.com story).

A communications and marketing plan will be devised, at extra cost to the council, to raise awareness of the new service. The exact nature of this is yet to be determined however it may include the delivery of leaflets, events and promotions in the press.

Councillor Coleman said: The introduction of this trial will help the council begin to address the statutory requirements of the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, and assist the council in developing proposals to extend the food waste collections citywide.