The chair of the Organics Recycling Group (ORG), Charlie Trousdell, has expressed support for Glasgow council’s decision to trial the removal of food waste bins from some homes, noting there is “no point” in collecting poor quality food waste.
Some flatted properties in Glasgow have had their food waste service removed (picture: Shutterstock)
Glasgow city council announced earlier this month that it is removing around 2,500 food waste bins from flatted properties around the city, where it is claimed contamination may be an issue and the uptake of food waste services for these properties has been “disappointing”.
Quality
The ORG, which is part of the Renewable Energy Association, has always supported quality collections in terms of food waste and green waste, Mr Trousdell explained.
“We have long been concerned about plastic contamination in green waste and attention also needs to be paid to contamination in food waste. Sometimes there’s no point in collecting food waste from everyone. There are places, almost everywhere in the UK, where the quality of recycling is down the list on people’s priorities. Those who are in poverty, and in poor quality housing for example. We have to be realistic.”
Instead, he suggested more of a focus on those who wish to recycle food and dry recyclables.
Mr Trousdell reasoned: “Why don’t we concentrate on the vast majority of people who do want to do it properly, and help educate them and give the right tools?
“Glasgow has done the right thing. They’ve taken a sensible decision not to accept poor quality food waste. Let’s focus on getting the right quality of organics. And I would expect to see more of that. Whilst in principle, of course we want to see regular food waste collections, there is no point in collecting waste that is poor quality.”
Celebrating
The chair of the ORG added that generally there is less food waste being generated in the UK and the main point of focus should be trying to reduce food waste overall rather than focusing too much on collecting it for anaerobic digestion (AD). He added that Glasgow has made the “right decision” to stop sending poor quality food waste to AD.
Charlie Trousdell is chair of the REA Organics Recycling Group
Mr Trousdell said: “Generally speaking there is less food being wasted, which is an interesting picture, because we have built too many AD plants and there is not enough food waste for them. Reducing food waste is the right thing environmentally, it should not be all about gas generated from AD.”
He added: “At best there is only 4 million tonnes of food waste available, and surely we should be celebrating that.”
Glasgow
Food waste bins were removed in Glasgow on 10 August from addresses in the north west area of the city.
According to the council, latest figures show that a total of 2,000 tonnes of food waste collected from flatted properties is sent for reprocessing each year, which compared to 12,000 tonnes recovered we-early from houses.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
