Archived press release

Date Published: 08/11/07

Aylesbury Vale District Council is proposing to keep its weekly food waste collections after council chiefs listened to feedback from the public. The council has been running a trial composting scheme in around 2,500 properties in Buckingham and ...

Aylesbury Vale District Council is proposing to keep its weekly food waste collections after council chiefs listened to feedback from the public.

The council has been running a trial composting scheme in around 2,500 properties in Buckingham and Winslow whereby householders receive an alternate week waste collection. This means household rubbish is collected in green bins one week, and garden waste and cardboard in brown bins the next.

Although the scheme has received a positive response from residents, the council has learned from this trial, and from the experience of other councils, that it needs to offer a weekly food waste collection service.

The proposed twin bin scheme for Aylesbury Vale will allow for food waste to be placed in either bin. Whilst the council would prefer kitchen waste to only go in the brown bin, householders will have the option in hot summer periods to put it into the green bin to be taken to landfill.
 
At the moment, AVDC cannot change its existing refuse collection service for the properties not in the trial areas as it needs a larger, enclosed composting site that is suitable to compost food waste. 

Buckinghamshire County Council’s development control committee last week rejected a bid by Agrivert to build a facility at Manor Farm, Hardwick, which would have converted 40,000 tonnes a year of local residents’ food, cardboard and garden waste. The county council will now reassess its options to ensure that a composting facility in north Bucks is up and running as soon as possible.

At a meeting of AVDC’s cabinet last night (6 November), councillors agreed that the composting trial in Buckingham and Winslow should continue until the composting facility is built. This will mean that weekly collections of food waste will be maintained in all areas except the trial areas in Buckingham and Winslow. However, the weekly collections of food waste will be made available to these properties as soon as the new waste facility is built.

The contents of the brown bins are currently taken to a local farm, shredded and then composted for reuse as a soil conditioner. Compostable material collected from the trial areas does not include food waste because the composting site is not enclosed.

Most councils are now collecting green waste for composting because the government and the EU have introduced strict targets to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill. The county council will end up paying around £150 a tonne in fines if the targets are not met, which could see substantial increases in council tax.

Although the councils in Buckinghamshire collectively manage to either recycle or compost around 40 per cent of household waste, this means that well over half the waste is currently buried in landfill sites, where it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as it breaks down.

Councillor Sir Beville Stanier, Cabinet Member for Environment and Health, said: “We have listened very carefully to the thoughts and opinions of the residents of Aylesbury Vale on the subject of waste collection. It became increasingly clear to us that while they were 100 per cent committed to recycling, they wanted to retain their weekly food waste collection. This is what we are proposing to do.”

He added: “We are disappointed that the county council has rejected the bid for a composting facility near Aylesbury and we hope that a suitable site can be found soon. It is vitally important that we get this facility locally so we can compost food, cardboard and garden waste and reduce the amount of biodegradable waste we send to landfill.”

The motion that AVDC will continue to collect food waste on a weekly basis in all areas other than the trial areas will be considered by full council at its meeting on 28 November.

For further information about recycling or managing your waste, please visit the council’s website at www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/recycle or call 01296 585862.