Decision on weekly food waste collections in Black Country Borough due
Walsall Council’s cabinet members will decide this week on the delivery of the food waste collections that will come into force next year.
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Under the Environment Act 2021, all local authorities must introduce weekly food waste collections from all households by March 31, 2026.
Two options for the delivery of the new service will be presented at the meeting on Wednesday night (April 16) by portfolio holder for street pride at Walsall Council, councillor Kerry Murphy.
Option one would see residents issued with a small kitchen caddy for daily use and a larger kerbside caddy that is presented weekly for collection.
The food waste would be sent to a treatment facility where it is used to create fertiliser and biogas by a process known as anaerobic digestion.
The biogas produced can be used to generate green electricity or power vehicles, while the fertiliser is used in agriculture.
The cost per tonne for disposal of food waste via anaerobic digestion is less than that for incineration or landfill and can be carried out within the Birmingham region.
It is estimated that option one would require additional revenue funding of £1.7m.
The second, more expensive, option is to introduce weekly mixed brown bin collections of food and garden waste.
Currently, only garden waste can go into the brown bin, which is collected fortnightly between spring and autumn each year.
If option two is chosen, food waste will also be accepted, and the collections will become weekly and run throughout the year.
The food and garden waste would be disposed of via in-vessel composting, which the council says is ‘considerably more expensive’ than anaerobic digestion.
It also said there is very limited capacity for in-vessel composting, and waste may have to be transported long distances for disposal.
It is estimated that option two would require an additional revenue funding of £2.6m.
According to Walsall Council, food waste collections could remove around 6,000 – 10,000 tonnes of waste from going to landfill, depending on residents’ participation.
A review took place in 2023 analysing what Walsall residents put in their green recycling bins and grey bins.
It found that food waste made up 40 per cent of what we put in our grey bins, equating to 28,500 tonnes, and nearly a third of that food waste was still in its original packaging.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme noted that most local authorities will be undertaking similar exciserises to introduce the compulsory service.
The increasing demand may cause procurement bottlenecks, supply chain pressures and inflated prices for containers and vehicles, impacting the council’s ability to deliver the service before the March deadline.
