Each of the districts already has a green waste collection, but plans are now coming together to introduce kitchen waste and cardboard to the compostable waste collections over the coming months.
” There are sites available which are taking green waste, but we need them to be compliant with the Animal By Product Regulations, which is difficult.“
– Mick Shaw, Hertfordshire CC
The council has signed a contract to send about 25,000 tonnes of food waste to West London Composting's in-vessel plant in Harefield. This will be from collections run in the districts of Watford, Hertsmere and Three Rivers.
However, the council still requires more treatment facilities to take the remainder of the 60,000 tonnes of compostable waste it is expecting from district food waste collections.
Mick Shaw, waste operations manager at Hertfordshire council, said: “While West London Composting is near Three Rivers, it is a bit of a way from St Albans, for example. We are looking at composting options within a more reasonable distance from the districts.”
APBR
Because it includes materials of an animal origin, the food waste must be treated at composting plants that meet UK and European standards under Animal By-Product legislation.
Mr Shaw said: “There are sites available which are taking green waste, but we need them to be compliant with the Animal By Product Regulations, which is difficult. Trying to find new sites is a problem and then there's the issue of planning if you do find one.”
The county council has been prompted to collect food waste by Defra's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, which limits the amount of biodegradable waste that disposal authorities can send to landfill. The council, which recycled 22% of household waste in 2003/04, is also pushing for a 25% recycling and composting target set by the government for 2005/06.
Mr Shaw said that for some residents, getting used to collecting kitchen waste separately from other waste would not be much of an issue because they often put some vegetable peelings in with their green waste already even though they haven't been allowed to do so until now.
“They think they are being good by doing this and assume because they can put vegetable scraps in their compost heap at home, they can put it in their recycling bins. Well now we're allowing them to do that,” Mr Shaw said.
Cardboard
The council said it is encouraging householders to put cardboard in with food waste in the new collections because of a lack of demand from paper reprocessors for mixed cardboard waste. Mr Shaw explained: “It will be easier all around now, because residents will be able to include things such as egg boxes and card from cereal packets in their compost bin.”
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The compost produced at the 2.5 million WLC facility is sold in bags to the public or in bulk for local landscaping projects. West London Composting intends to give some bags of compost away to the public for free during Compost Awareness week, which runs through the first week of May.
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