Wychavon set to end food waste collections

Weekly food waste collections are set to be scrapped from 2014 in Wychavon, Worcestershire, in a bid to save the district council an estimated 550,000 per year.

Wychavon district councillors voted in favour of withdrawing the service from January 10 2014 at a meeting of the executive board earlier this month, but a final decision will be made at a full council meeting on September 24.

The council said that it needed to make savings of around 4 million over the next four years due to government funding cuts and that as the number of people making use of food waste collections has dropped significantly, it had no option but to stop the service.

Councillors agreed instead to develop a targeted communication campaign promoting home composting and the minimisation of household food waste.

According to a council survey on possible budget cuts, the collection of food waste was listed as the most popular council service to withdraw by 88% of 1,722 residents who responded. 53 businesses were also surveyed, with 93% favouring the end of food waste collection services.

Council data suggests that the annual tonnage of food waste collected in Wychavon has fallen from 1,282 in 2009/10 to just 817 tonnes in 2012/13.

Furthermore, the council said that less than 20% of residents are currently using food waste collection services, making the decision to remove it more straightforward than a lot of decisions the council is faced with.

Collections

FCC Environment currently operates commingled recycling collections alongside the separate food waste collection service on behalf of Wychavon district council. Under the contract, food waste is collected weekly alongside alternating fortnightly wheeled-bin refuse and recycling collections.

During the weeks when food waste is collected alongside refuse, the food waste is sent to landfill. During weeks in which recycling is collected, however, food waste is collected and sent to Gloucestershire-based firm Rose Hill Recyclings In-Vessel Composting (IVC) facility in Dymock under a short-term contract.

‘For the small percentage of residents who do use the service, we will actively talk to them about how they can home compost or minimise waste in other ways’

Ron Davis, Wychavon district councillor

Rose Hill Recycling processes food waste from a number of local authorities and businesses in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire and is also currently commissioning a 1MW anaerobic digestion plant on site to take some of the food waste.

However, owner of the company, Mark Bennion, told letsrecycle.com that the potential loss of food waste from Wychavon would not affect his business.

He said: It is not for me to comment on the business of the council. Every little helps, shall we say, but we have other contracts in this area as well so we certainly wont close down or anything.

Costs

According to the council, if the separate food waste collections are scrapped, residents will be encouraged to either home compost their food waste or present it for refuse collection, but the council denied this would lead to an increase in landfill tax costs.

The council, which is targeting a 50% recycling rate by March 2015, claimed that there would be no additional cost associated with the removal of the food waste collection service.

Wychavon councillor Ron Davis, portfolio holder for contracted services, environment and health, said: For the small percentage of residents who do use the service, we will actively talk to them about how they can home compost or minimise waste in other ways. They will also have plenty of time to prepare as the service will continue until January next year.

The proposals to scrap services would result in some redundancies of FCC employees, the council said, although precise numbers are not currently known. However, it said there would be opportunities to redeploy staff elsewhere within the contract.

Wychavon councils executive board has also recommended a two-year extension its contract with FCC, which includes the districts refuse collection and street cleaning services and currently runs until September 2015 with an optional seven-year extension.

The council said the contract extension would give it time to explore opportunities for a joint waste and recycling service with other local authorities.

ORG

Commenting on the proposed withdrawal of food collection services in Wychavon, the Organics Recycling Group said sending food waste to landfill should be discouraged in favour of collection services and reuse at every opportunity.

ORG technical director, Jeremy Jacobs, said: Most people collecting food waste will recognise that significant volumes continue to go to landfill. The reality is we are still in fairly tough economic times so householders are probably going to be less inclined to throw food away than they have been in the past.

He added: We should be discouraging that at every opportunity and encouraging collection and reuse for beneficial purposes.