East Riding Council has announced that its targets to reduce waste going to landfill are on track but it is likely that 20 jobs at a local recycling centre will be lost.
The Council has revealed plans for 150,000 householders to put their food waste into kitchen caddies which will result in the loss of jobs at the recycling centre near Bridlington where food waste is segregated currently.
In excess of 9,300 tonnes of waste will now be diverted from landfill and will save the Council £217,000 that would have previously been paid in permits and fines for waste being taken to landfill.
Coun Symon Fraser, the council’s portfolio holder for the environment, said: “Up to a third of the waste in an average green household bin is food which goes to landfill.”
He added: “From every angle, including environmental and economic, it makes sense to compost it.”
Trish Dalby, head of streetscene services, said: “So far in the current financial year we are recycling 52 per cent of household waste.
“Since we rolled out the new recycling scheme in September our figures have increased every month, so we are confident that we will meet our 45 per cent target, which is ten per cent above the target set nationally.”
Yet again another Council announces plans for residential food waste to be diverted from landfill without any consideration or mention of commercial and business food waste.With national figures of 8.3 million tonnes of food waste being created by households there are no current figures for the excessive amounts of commercial and business food waste that is created.
Most commercial food waste is put into general waste bins that go to landfill as opposed to being recycled and if the UK is to meet is EU waste targets it cannot continue for much longer.Local Councils do not operate commercial food waste collection rounds and it is left to companies such as Eco Food Recycling in Dorset to organise collection rounds for food waste from local businesses.
Eco Food Recycling offer a commercial food waste collection service for local companies in the Bournemouth,Poole,Christchurch,Ringwood,Wimborne and surrounding area’s whereby all food waste collected is 100% recycled at a local in-vessel composting facility.
