Councillor Neil Emmott, Cabinet Member for Environment, said the borough was simply looking to know why local people were not using their food waste bins more often.
He said: “It could be a lack of information, that people think its unhygienic or that people are just not interested.”
Demographics
The council is also interested in finding out if there are parts of the borough with different demographics who are less likely to recycle, or if residents have preferences about how they receive messaging about recycling services.
As well as food waste being disposed of with general waste, analysis by the Greater Manchester combined authority also found that only 40% of homes in Rochdale leave their food and garden waste bins out for collection.
Cllr Emmott hopes that the disappointing figures can kickstart action on food waste.
He said: “We realise that there is room for improvement and we want to start pushing further.
“This analysis we have just been given has been the catalyst for us going forward with this consultation.”
Weight
Food waste costs a third more to collect in general waste collections than it does in food and garden waste bins, largely because of its weight, according to the council’s website.
Rochdale previously had one of the worst recycling rates in Greater Manchester, with 33.37% of waste recycled, reused or composted in 2012/13, according to WasteDataFlow figures. By 2017/18 this had been brought up to 47.9%
Since 2015 most Rochdale residents have been able to recycle their food waste by presenting either a brown bin or street caddy for weekly roadside collections.
The consultation will be closed on July 16.
Related links
Rochdale food waste consultation
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