West Londoners receive 350,000 kitchen waste collection

Under the 12-month pilot, kitchen waste will be collected from 3,800 households in Brent, Ealing, Hounslow and Richmond as well as eight Sainsbury's supermarkets.

The trial tests if householders will put waste straight into bins without plastic bags

The scheme, called Organics in West London (OWL) Recycling, is funded by WREN landfill tax credits from Waste Recycling Group. It also has third-party help from the West London Waste Authority, Sainsbury's, the councils and London Remade.

It is a partnership between ECT Recycling, councils, Cleanaway, Waste Watch, Enviros and The Organic Resource Agency.

Law

It is currently illegal to spread composted kitchen waste on land, so the collected material is being composted in a closed system at Cleanaway's Eco Park in Rainham, Essex, where growing trials are being carried out. Although the compost is not being used on land now, OWL is preparing to implement anticipated government controls on the composting of catering waste due to be made law next spring.

In a statement, OWL said: “The scheme aims to establish the economic benefits of collecting residential and commercial waste together, as well as the feasibility of collecting kitchen waste as part of an existing doorstep recycling service without contaminating other materials. Extensive research will also be carried out to establish the potential of marketing organic compost in urban areas.”

Trial

ECT Recycling will collect the household waste alongside dry recyclables on a weekly basis. The pilot will trial different sized collection bins and biodegradable bags to see which set-up encourages residents to recycle the most.

Jon Pickering from The Organic Resource Agency, who is managing the project, admitted that original estimates of a yield of 500 tonnes a year and 50% recycling seemed over-ambitious in view of results from the first three weeks of the pilot. But, he said, OWL hoped to see at least 300 tonnes collected per year, and an improvement in the recycling rate of participating areas.

Hugh Carr-Harris from London Remade said: “This scheme is not just about collecting kitchen waste for composting, it's also about &#39c;losing the loop' by developing local markets for the final product.”