A weekly collection of food waste looks set to be on the cards after local authorities backed a bid to bring it in from at least 2024.
The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, which both South Holland District Council and Lincolnshire County Council are a part of, has offered its support to the government proposal which it says is ‘almost certain’ to happen.
Its response to the consultation of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)’s also objects to a proposal that bins for garden waste should be made available for free and offered advice on dry recycling.
A report to a meeting of the partnership outlined the support for weekly food collections while also saying it will lead to costs for district councils like South Holland.
The report states: “Defra are proposing to make it mandatory for all households and businesses to receive a weekly separate collection of food waste from 2024.
“The LWP supports this in theory because it would divert a significant tonnage (possibly up to 30kTe per annum) away from residual waste to recycling.
“However, trial collections and modelled calculations have demonstrated that there would be significant financial implications:
“Our Waste Collection Authorities (WCA) would face a huge additional cost – eg new vehicles and extra crews.
“Defra have indicated they will fund the costs of “new burdens” but it is not yet clear how those payments will be calculated, particularly in two-tier areas.
“The county council have begun a project to provide the necessary recycling capacity for this food waste.
“Since the proposals now seem almost certain to become law, LWP partners have already begun to consider how best to comply. It is essential that authorities coordinate their efforts to ensure that their plans dovetail effectively.”
The consultation response says there’ll be a loss of income if garden waste bins are free, something you currently have to pay £52 for 24 collections in a year.
The Partnership says: “The LWP have objected to this on the basis that charges reflect the “producer pays” principle of waste management and, far from being “free” as described in Defra’s consultation on “consistency”, the collections would then be funded through taxation of all residents, including those who have no garden.
“While Defra are convinced that “free” collections will divert garden waste which is being lost to residual collections, and thus that composting would provide a disposal saving, sampling shows that very little garden waste is currently in our residual waste.
“Thus, the majority of any increase in composting may be new waste, possibly diverting from home composting.”
