AD industry contributes to combating of poor food waste collection

A call on the UK Government to “fast-track” the rollout of separate food waste collections across the UK has led to a coalition of more than forty trade bodies, campaign groups, businesses and local authorities.

In a press release the UK’S trade body for anaerobic digestion, ADBA has announced that it has joint the coalition. In a bid to get the Government to separate food waste collections, the coalition has signed a joint statement. The statement proposes that the Government allow inedible food waste to be separated from other waste streams and recycled through AD and composting, so that it can be turned into renewable energy and natural fertiliser.

The coalition hopes that the Government’s forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy will take action and amend the policy on universal food waste collections.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said that he would “like to see” a national separate food waste collection scheme. Unlike the devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, only a third of English households have food waste collections.

Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive of ADBA wrote in her statement to Mr Gove, “Separate food waste collections are vital in helping to make people more aware of how much edible food they are wasting and in ensuring that any inedible food waste can be recycled through AD into renewable energy and natural fertiliser rather than being left to rot in landfill or wasted in incineration. Fully recycling food waste is vital to allowing the UK to meet its climate-change commitments as well as restoring our soils, managing our wastes, and decarbonising our energy supply.”