13 June 2019
Telford and Wrekin council will roll out a weekly food waste collections to residents from September as part of efforts to boost the council’s 43% recycling rate.
The service will be delivered by Veolia, the council’s waste provider, and they will deliver the food waste for recycling at our West Birmingham AD Facility (Roundhill) in Stourbridge.
The council announced the move earlier this week and confirmed new food caddies, manufactured by Straight Ltd, will be rolled out to residents in August ready for the move.
Delivering a food waste service to the council’s 167,000 residents will provide an estimated saving of £372,000 per year, the council said. The cost of the implementation of the service is included within the waste management services contract with Veolia so there is no set up costs for the council, it said.
The council, using WRAP research, say about one third of the waste in its residents bins could be food waste.
System
Residents in Telford and Wrekin currently separate their waste into paper and card, general recycling and residual waste, with an option for garden waste as well. Each household will now be given a kitchen caddy for their food waste, which comes with a supply of free biodegradable liners, as well as a larger outdoor caddy which can be presented at the kerbside every week.
WRAP has previously stated around a third of the UK's residual waste is food waste.
Veolia will also be re-routing some bin collection rounds from September to provide a more efficient service with a ‘lower carbon footprint’ according to the council.
Commenting on the new service, Steve Mitchell, Veolia’s West Midlands director, said: “We are excited to introduce this new weekly food waste recycling service to residents as it will help us to create more resources from our rubbish. It will also encourage us, as a borough to think more about the food we throw away.
We’ve also been looking at the collection routes to see if we can improve efficiencies there. As a result there will be a collection day change for some households from September as we continue to ensure that we are offering an efficient and economic service.”
Councillor Richard Overton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for recycling, added: “The kerbside recycling service has proved popular with residents and has boosted the amount recycled in the borough. Expanding our recycling collection service to include an optional food waste means we can recycle even more.”
Pamela Lloyd, Commercial Director, Severn Trent Green Power said: "We are delighted to support Veolia in providing a sustainable and reliable outlet for Telford & Wrekin's food waste. We're pleased to welcome the council to our extensive network of local authority food waste customers."
Householders can expect to have their new food caddies delivered from the middle of August onwards.
Article credit: Joshua Doherty, Lets Recycle