Wasted opportunity as councils miss target
News that one in four councils failed to meet the deadline last month to introduce weekly food waste collections for all homes in England is very disappointing.
That’s the view of Midlands energy expert Ron Fox, who was commenting on how the new recycling moves would have meant food waste being used to produce green electricity at the same time as reducing the amount of waste rotting in landfill and releasing harmful greenhouse gases.
It is hoped that the plan would have also encouraged people to reduce how much food they waste in the first place.
“It really is a wasted opportunity in the important fight against climate change,” said Ron Fox, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park.
He continued: “To put that in context, recycling one small food waste bin of unavoidable food waste and turning it into green electricity could power a domestic fridge for 18 hours, and a whole lorry of food waste would keep that fridge cool for five years.”
A BBC investigation found that 79 councils were not ready to provide the service and missed the March 31 deadline – despite the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) giving out more than £340m in grants to help them.
But councils blamed the delay on demand for new specialist vehicles and funding issues.
Defra said it would continue to work with local authority waste networks and the wider industry to help address outstanding issues in what has been called the biggest shake-up in recycling policy in England in 20 years.
According to Defra’s Simpler Recycling guidance, the new recycling rules mean that waste collectors must collect the following separately:
- Food and garden waste
- Paper and card – although depending on where you live, this can be grouped with other dry recyclables
- All other dry recyclable materials (glass, metal and plastic, including cartons)
- Residual waste – this is the rubbish that cannot be recycled and so is sent to landfill or for energy recovery
The government pointed out that roughly half of councils were not collecting food waste weekly before the creation of the Simpler Recycling legislation, whilst some have had the collections in place for more than a decade. It meant not all councils needed to make changes to meet the new rules.
At least 57 of those councils that will miss the deadline are aiming to launch their service for all households by the end of 2026.
A further 31 councils have secured agreements allowing for a later start date for their weekly food collections.
But it will still mean more than a third of councils will still not be collecting food waste from this month.
This article raises some interesting questions, said Ron. Should the councils have done better on introducing these weekly food waste collections? Would you like to see this new recycling idea in your area? Would it cut back on the amount of waste you use in the first place? Send your views to Ron Fox at noreus@icloud.
Ron added: “If you want any advice about green energy and recycling, call me on 0845 474 6641 or contact me here.”
To check whether your council hit the new recycling deadline, go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4vwj0yj20o
Caption: ‘Bin’ and gone – one in four councils failed to meet the deadline to introduce weekly food waste collections for all homes in England. Picture: John Butterworth
