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Will councils be forced to collect food waste?

An upcoming policy shakeup could see councils across the UK making household food recycling mandatory. The change would make a huge impact on the path to Net Zero. The current UK Government has set out a target to eliminate all avoidable waste by 2050, with food waste being one of the biggest and easily avoidable culprits.

Environment secretary George Eustice explained that the government’s proposals will “boost recycling rates, and ensure that less rubbish is condemned to landfill.”**

The new rules would see all households given a weekly food-waste collection caddy separate to the main waste and recycling bins, reducing how much is sent to landfill by as much as 9.5 million tonnes every year*.

Whilst this change would be revolutionary in the fight against climate change, there is a risk of confusion around food recycling. As they stand the rules vary from council to council, so most households do not understand their options for recycling food waste. For local councils responsible for arranging the service, implementing food recycling consistently across the country will be a big task.

Since the proposed legislation is not set to be law until 2023 at the earliest, there is time for councils to organise their food recycling services. Warrens Group works with councils, businesses and schools across the North East and Scotland to take away and recycle their food waste. Warrens uses anaerobic digestion to break down organic waste using bacteria and recycle it into fertiliser for soil and biogas for vehicles and machinery.

Kevin Quigley, commercial director of Warrens Group says, “I am fully supportive of the Government’s plans to mandate food waste collection in a bid to create a more sustainable future. Although the plans are not set to be law for a while yet, councils should plan and establish their food waste disposal methods now.”

The waste management company is setting out to help local council arrange their food waste services and convert it into clean energy that can be used by council to fuel their own waste collection vehicles.

Kevin explains, “Warrens is ready to be one of the main collection services used by councils, to ensure all food waste being collected is being turned into green energy that makes the recycling ecosystem more sustainable.”

The move to make all councils collect food waste is a positive one towards a cleaner, greener tomorrow. The food waste collected can one day even power the very households it is collected from.

People can speak to the MPs about their plans to make food recycling available in their homes to help advocate for the change. The teams at local authorities can get in touch today to discuss their options for recycling with Warrens and find out how they can make best use of the energy food waste is converted into.

**George Eustice quote