Food waste collection coming to Wokingham Borough in 2019

Wokingham Borough joins other boroughs to help reduce landfill waste by introducing kerbside food waste collection

From April 2019, households will be able to recycle almost all types of food waste, excluding fats and oils. Each household will receive a sealable 23 litre kerbside food waste container, along with a smaller kitchen caddie and liners.

Food waste will be collected on a weekly basis at the same time as blue bag and black box collections, as part of council plans to recycle at least 50% of all household waste by the end of 2020. Households will continue to receive an allocation of 80 blue bags, or more for larger families, on an annual basis and collections will remain the same.

The annual delivery of blue bags will be slightly earlier next year to allow for the introduction of food waste collections.

Reduced waste

At present around 30% of all residual blue bag waste could be recycled in regular food waste collections – which is over 10,000 tonnes annually. When sent to landfill and left to decompose, food waste produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By introducing collections, we can reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere and save up to £100 per tonne by diverting waste from landfill.

The food waste will be sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, which captures the methane created by the waste to produce energy and fertiliser.

Councillor comment

Cllr Norman Jorgensen, executive member for environment, sports, environmental health, leisure and libraries, said: “We’re all becoming aware of the impact we are having on the environment and so it’s important we do our bit. When food waste is sent to landfill, it produces methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Introducing food waste collections will allow us to reduce the amount of methane in the atmosphere, and reduce how much waste we send to landfill.”

The new service will be provided by current providers, Veolia, who will be providing a new fleet to support the service.