The trial, which began in January 2009, was originally due to run for six months but has been operating continuously since it began.
Out of 200 businesses approached by the London borough, 70 have joined the scheme, which is run in association with the council's collection contractor Enterprise and organics recycling company BiogenGreenfinch.
Speaking at a council-run event entitled 'Using Food waste as a Resource', Matthew Homer, street scene strategy manager at Islington council, said the council had received a lot of “positive feedback” about the scheme and was “to extend it into a mainstream service”.
The pilot scheme was supported by a grant of £130,000 from the London Development Agency. The funding was used to subsidise collection fees for the companies which joined and also but new equipment including containers for food waste storage and digestable bags.
Mr Homer explained that the funding had helped the council to offer the service at an “attractive price”. With the subsidies, which are now coming to an end, the council was able to charge just £2.55 for each collection of a 120 litre bin. Mr Homer explained that the costs would rise to £5.15 per bin, per lift when the subsidies end but said the council was working on making the service as cost-effective as possible and hoped to reduce the costs over time.
He also explained that as more businesses joined the scheme, costs would fall. The council is looking at the possibility of a sack only collection to reduce costs and integrating its business collection with its household waste collection.
He said: “It is a priority for us to make the scheme as economical as possible for businesses in Islington.
Mr Homer explained that a number of businesses had expressed an interest in joining the scheme but not all could be catered for at the moment because Islington was working to expand the scheme; currently it does not have the collection capacity to work with all interested parties.
But, he added: “We are looking to make the collection more mainstream.”
Reprocessing
During the trial the waste was collected by Islington contractor, Enterprise, and taken to a BiogenGreenfinch anaerobic digestion (AD) facility close to Bedford for reprocessing.
Simon Musther, head of commercial operations at BiogenGreenfinch, said that the company was working with the London borough to ensure the operation was cost-effective. The processor currently takes about five tonnes-a-week of food waste from Islington.
He also said that developing facilities around cities, specifically outside the London Orbital (M25) would also help to cut costs for councils because transportation costs would be lower.
Mr Muster explained: “It's unlikely that we could build facilities in London itself but it would be possible if we had a system of 'wheel and spoke' transfer stations in inner London which fed through to AD facilities built just outside the London Orbital.”
He revealed that BiogenGreenfinch was planning to have 15 AD facilities operational by 2013, some of which would be close enough to take waste from London boroughs without incurring a high number of waste miles.
Other London boroughs are also interested in setting up collections after the success of the trial in Islington. Hara Xirou, of LRS Consultancy, which helped to develop the trial with Islington said: “We have had enquiries from a number of councils. Westminster is looking to start and the west London boroughs have also shown interest.”
She added: “York and Cardiff have also asked about the scheme. We need more boroughs to get involved.”
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