New food waste collection launches 31 October

West Berkshire Council and their waste contractor Veolia Environmental Services are to launch a new separate collection of food waste from Monday 31 October.

This follows the huge success of the kerbside recycling collection which boosted the amount of the district’s waste that is recycled to more than 40 percent a year.

As part of the new scheme, every home that has an outdoor green bin for recycling garden waste will receive a new food waste caddy. This is designed to be stored in the kitchen and can accept a whole range of food waste including dairy, fish, fruit and vegetables, bread and pastries, tea and coffee ground, and meat and small bones. Biodegradable bags should be used with the caddy and a supply of these will also be provided.

The bags can be put in either the green or the black wheelie bins ensuring food waste will be collected every week. Once the scheme launches recycling and garden waste will be collected one week with the black bins collected on the other week.

Hilary Cole, West Berkshire Executive Councillor for the Environment and Cleaner Greener said: “More than 60 percent of residents told us in our latest satisfaction survey that they would use a food waste collection so we hope this will prove as popular as the rest of the kerbside collection service. It makes sense as we have invested in an impressive cutting edge composting facility that means we can deal with food and green waste locally rather than sending it elsewhere.”

General Manager for Veolia Environmental Services in West Berkshire, Tracey Reilly, said: “All of the food waste collected with green waste as part of the new service will be taken to the new West Berkshire Waste and Recycling Centre at Padworth. There it will be placed into a special enclosed unit that turns it into high quality compost more quickly than in the open air.”

Leaflets will be distributed to homes over the next few weeks to explain the new scheme in more detail and there is also information on the website at http://www.westberks.gov.uk/waste

A big fuss about food waste recycling hiding the news that black bins will now be fortnightly.

Jeez, it doesnt even mention the black bins being fortnightly. It's not often I agree with User, but there are some press releases that are such unadulterated spin, that they shouldn't be printed.

Quoted from blackdog

A big fuss about food waste recycling hiding the news that black bins will now be fortnightly.

Usual WBC spin then? More truth economy?  

Spin or no spin - it can only be a good thing ! If we all recycled properly there wouldn't actually be a need for a black bin at all.

Quoted from PaulaM

Spin or no spin - it can only be a good thing ! If we all recycled properly there wouldn't actually be a need for a black bin at all.

That would be true if we didn't buy anything either.  What happens to Mr and Mrs Newbabys' soiled nappies?

I hear the new fly tipping site along Burys bank road opens soon

I was thinking along the same lines....  Greenham Common could soon have a new carpet of biodegradable waste for the cattle to deal with....

Quoted from 26

Jeez, it doesnt even mention the black bins being fortnightly. It's not often I agree with User, but there are some press releases that are such unadulterated spin, that they shouldn't be printed.

Yes it does:


The bags can be put in either the green or the black wheelie bins ensuring food waste will be collected every week. Once the scheme launches recycling and garden waste will be collected one week with the black bins collected on the other week.

So it does. I spotted it in the leaflet, but missed it totally there.

Quoted from 26

So it does. I spotted it in the leaflet, but missed it totally there.

Considering that it is easily the most relevant part of the announcement to the majority of those effected it has to be said that the press release is a shining example of how to hide bad news.

Quoted from blackdog

Considering that it is easily the most relevant part of the announcement to the majority of those effected it has to be said that the press release is a shining example of how to hide bad news.

It hasn't worked though has it. We rumbled them quickly enough, as did the media.

Quoted from Muddler

It hasn't worked though has it. We rumbled them quickly enough, as did the media.

It was still a breathtaking piece of spin.

It's more of a shame that WBC isn't asking, but telling us. Seems strange for an organisation to want to pick a fight with their customers by not asking what service they want before announcing it.

I'm in favour of this, but I wish WBC would go further. The Veolia waste PFI contract is worth £3m a year....if the workload is reduced, so should the cost of the contract. That's a saving of around £1m up for grabs (as long as the contract's been written the right way).

An alternative would be to keep the weekly collections, and burn it at a big incinerator built somewhere inconspicuous...say next to a motorway in a disused quarry.

I suspect Cllr Jones (who lives in Wantage) was inspired by his local council's collection service.
http://82.109.175.20/rubbish_recycling_waste/Collections/default.asp

I notice they are giving us 6 months supply of biodegradable bags. But no comment on how much they will charge for future supplies.


I also thought they had only recently said there were no plans for fortnightly collections, so was this just more lies??

Quoted from Nobby

I notice they are giving us 6 months supply of biodegradable bags. But no comment on how much they will charge for future supplies.

They are not allowed to. They have a legal duty to provide free waste collection. There are exemptions around bulky items, trade waste, and 'excess', which they are allowed to charge for.

Quoted from Nobby

I also thought they had only recently said there were no plans for fortnightly collections, so was this just more lies??

It only takes one meeting to change plans - if this is an effective way to save £1million from the annual Veolia contract, or even half that, then I'm in support.  Much better than closing a old folks home.

On the other hand it does not reduce the cost of the Veolia contract ...

Quoted from blackdog

It only takes one meeting to change plans - if this is an effective way to save £1million from the annual Veolia contract, or even half that, then I'm in support.  Much better than closing a old folks home.

On the other hand it does not reduce the cost of the Veolia contract ...

I too am not against it in principle if it saves money.

It may take only one meeting to decide, but some time to plan all of this, and therefore we were probably some way thgrough the plans when we were (I believe) told that there were no plans. In that case it was a blatant lie.

Quoted from blackdog

On the other hand it does not reduce the cost of the Veolia contract ...

.... but keeps 300 staff at WBC employed.....

Quoted from blackdog

On the other hand it does not reduce the cost of the Veolia contract ...

...Then it was a pre-planned agreement as part of the Veolia contract and has been known about and kept secret for some time.

As a smaller household, we have become fortnightly of our own volition, not generating enough to fill a weekly black bin we only put it up when it's green bin as well. However, some of the families living close by fill their black bin to overflowing every week. I am amazed at the way the council have slid this one in under the door and then have given themselves a pat on the back for being green.
This green thing is patently nonsense and the councillors should hang their heads in shame for the way they are conning their ratepayers.
I don't rummage through peoples wheelie bins but I would take a bet that 90% of the rubbish each week is non recyclable packaging, nappies and other junk that we need to throw away each week. Uneaten food, including potato peelings, uneaten stuff scraped off the plate and food past sell by date will be, if separated out, just a small 10%. So, there is no justification other than it's financial and perhaps they have struck a deal with Veolia. If they have, then they should announce it that way.

From our point of view and taking account my extreme age, I now have to contend with working out which colour bin I put up on a Sunday night and if I get it wrong, having the finger of scorn pointed at me by the neighbours.

Quoted from Nobby

I notice they are giving us 6 months supply of biodegradable bags. But no comment on how much they will charge for future supplies.


I also thought they had only recently said there were no plans for fortnightly collections, so was this just more lies??

We haven't received the official announcement yet, but six months worth of bags sounds right.  You would only use the food bags during 'green bin week', 'black bin week' the food waste would go in your pedal bin, carrier bag etc as it does now.

Quoted from jay

We haven't received the official announcement yet, but six months worth of bags sounds right.  You would only use the food bags during 'green bin week', 'black bin week' the food waste would go in your pedal bin, carrier bag etc as it does now.

It was on the leaflet delivered when my bin was emptied this week.

Quoted from brian

As a smaller household, we have become fortnightly of our own volition, not generating enough to fill a weekly black bin we only put it up when it's green bin as well. However, some of the families living close by fill their black bin to overflowing every week. I am amazed at the way the council have slid this one in under the door and then have given themselves a pat on the back for being green.
This green thing is patently nonsense and the councillors should hang their heads in shame for the way they are conning their ratepayers.
I don't rummage through peoples wheelie bins but I would take a bet that 90% of the rubbish each week is non recyclable packaging, nappies and other junk that we need to throw away each week. Uneaten food, including potato peelings, uneaten stuff scraped off the plate and food past sell by date will be, if separated out, just a small 10%. So, there is no justification other than it's financial and perhaps they have struck a deal with Veolia. If they have, then they should announce it that way.

From our point of view and taking account my extreme age, I now have to contend with working out which colour bin I put up on a Sunday night and if I get it wrong, having the finger of scorn pointed at me by the neighbours.

But there's a huge justification. You're way out with your calculations. Official figures say 20% of household waste is food. Much of that is uneaten food bought by people who don't know how to shop.

Anyone filling a 60L bin every week is either spending like there's no tomorrow (unlikely with the economy as it is). Or they're lazy (their bin is filled with disposable nappies, pizza boxes, carrier bags, and stuff that could be taken to charity shops/freecycled).

Half of all houses around here don't do any recycling. Those who do are paying for those who don't. (economists call it the free-rider problem).

Judging from comments about benefit mums and chavs, I doubt many on here want to pay for people who are lazy. So they'll end up recycling more, and we can all look forward to £20 off our council tax bill.

I suspect the recyling bit comes down to a lazy, don't care attitude. On my way to the waste disposal unit just a few ninutes ago, I watched from my pick up, a group of youths crossing the footbridge half way up the hill, eating pizza. They must have just eaten the last piece as without even looking, they threw the empty box off the bridge onto the car below that was queuing to get into the retail park. What a traffic jam by the way.

......and, you can forget a reduction on your council bill, it doesn't work like that as you well know.