WRAP backs AD as answer to alternate weekly schemes

It says over 180 councils now collect non-recyclable and recyclable waste fortnightly on alternate weeks, and advises that schemes need to be “well designed, properly implemented and appropriate for local conditions if they are to help divert waste from landfill and increase recycling rates”.

Local authorities should take in to account the potential energy value of food waste when they consider their waste collection strategies

 
Dr Liz Goodwin, WRAP

Its new guidance came as Parliament's Communities and Local Government select committee highlighted the public concern over alternate weekly collections (see letsrecycle.com story).

Food waste 

One of the major concerns about a fortnightly collection of non-recyclable waste is what happens to food waste, WRAP said. Its guidance promotes the use of separate, weekly food waste collections with material treated in anaerobic digesters or in-vessel composting plants.

Reflecting the government's new English waste strategy (see letsrecycle.com story), WRAP is particularly promoting the use of anaerobic digestion – the organisation is currently trialling such technology with food waste schemes run by 17 councils in England.

Anaerobic digestion involves organic waste being broken down by microbes in controlled levels of oxygen in order to produce a digestate as well as a kind of contaminated methane called biogas. This can be used to generate electricity.

Dr Liz Goodwin WRAP's chief executive said: “Local authorities should take in to account the potential energy value of food waste when they consider their waste collection strategies. This, together with the fact that many residents feel strongly about weekly food waste collections, has led us to address the issue in our revised guidance.”

Cost

However, one expert on local authority recycling told letsrecycle.com yesterday that the costs of collecting and processing kitchen waste are high, and councils cannot set up more food waste collection schemes without the treatment capacity to handle the waste.

Jennie Rogers, a recycling consultant that works with councils, said it was all very well the government telling councils to start collecting food waste and use anaerobic digestion, but for many authorities such a move would be very difficult.

She said: “I hear time and time again that local authorities would collect kitchen waste, but for the lack of local in-vessel processing facilities. Where there are local facilities, they are invariably operating at full capacity. Another point is the time factor in getting facilities from the planning stage, through to finding suitable sites, through public consultation to building, which can take years.”

AWCs

The waste industry's professional body, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, said alternate weekly collections were not the answer everywhere, but noted that “millions of people in the UK who have been happily participating in this type of scheme for a number of years. In many areas where AWCs have been introduced properly, the result has been higher recycling rates and good levels of resident satisfaction.”

But responding to the select committee's report, CIWM chief executive Steve Lee added: “These schemes must be introduced sensibly, with the right containers and proper consultation and communication. With plenty of good practice out there for local councils to follow, however, as well as better information on the role that weekly food waste collection can play, there is no excuse for poorly implemented schemes.”

Cities

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone highlighted the MPs' warning that alternate weekly collections may not work in some areas. Mr Livingstone said he was not convinced about the use of alternate weekly collections in urban areas like London.

The Mayor said: “Like the Committee I am not persuaded by the case for alternate weekly collections. I remain concerned about how this would improve recycling in London, particularly in the high-rise high density buildings in some London boroughs and do not think the effects on environmental hygiene and the rodent population have been fully considered.”

The Mayor's view on alternate weekly collections was shared by Westminster city council's cabinet member for street environment, Cllr Alan Bradley. Cllr Bradley said: “This report seems to confirm what we've been saying all along. There's been a lot of pressure to join this mad rush to fortnightly collections as way of increasing recycling rates and cutting costs.

“We also feel that the public health implications of fortnightly collections have not been examined closely enough. The gestation period for the common house fly is 14 days, so it does not take a mathematical genius to work out that fortnightly collections could lead to an increase in flies, let alone other pests and vermin,” Cllr Bradley said.