Letter: What are the facts about food waste changes?
Tuesday 17th August 2010, 6:00AM BST.
Letter: The reported changes in the collection of food waste in south Shropshire really don’t tell the full story.
While it might seem acceptable, even sensible, to combine the collection of food with green waste, why on earth haul it all the way to Tern Hill in north Shropshire?
Ludlow led the way with a bio-digester and trumpeted how it was paying for its food waste collection with an electric cart powered for free from the digester. Is this digester now going to stand idle, or will we see food and green waste hauled from other parts of the country in order to keep it running?
I understand that if Oswestry can’t cope with the amount of waste hauled from south Shropshire then the fall-back position is to haul it 85 miles to Derby.
And that will save Shropshire Council £225,000 a year.
I thought the whole point of this technology was to be greener and to cut down on the waste being hauled around the country, whether to landfill or incinerator.
Clearly, I’m wrong. On the face of it £225,000 is a pretty small saving and I suspect takes no account of the energy expended in hauling this waste to and fro.
Andy Wright
Ludlow
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Have you heard of community composting? Google it, lots of interesting schemes about and no need to transport food waste or green waste anywhere.
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I do not think the composting of food waste is welcomes, Liz.
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While I would normally agree with you on the ‘proximity principle’ I’m afraid you’ve got it wrong here, Andy.
The composting of the foodwaste and greenwaste collected in Ludlow is actually
carried our through an anaerobic digestion unit at Coder Road, Ludlow Business Park.
You have probably seen the reference to ‘Tern Hill’ in the gussets of the compostable bags we (Ecosac Ltd) supply for this process.
It may also interest you to know that South Shropshire has achieved biowaste reduction rates through composting which are amongst the highest in Europe.
Well done, Ludlow and well done Shropshire Council.
Regards
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I think that it is outrageous that Shropshire will be ending weekly food waste collections for the Ludlow biodigester. If foodwaste goes in the greenwaste bin as planned, then it will be collected once a fortnight and will rot and become horrible. I bet the residents won’t like that.
Ludlow led the way with the food waste digester, and is famous for it’s food, so why does the council bury its head in the sand and ignore the sensible use of such a brilliant plant?
How can the Council be so shortsighted not to back a forward looking waste to energy scheme?
Ludlow is proud of its digester.
Maybe there are plans for an incinerator…
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Hullo maggots!
The proposition that householders have to live with their food waste for 2 weeks, is preposterous. Inevitably, in no time at all we will go back to the bad old days of food waste going into the general household waste, despite all the effort and money spent in recent years to prevent this happening. And what about households with no gardens, and thus no garden waste bins?
It is claimed that the new arrangement will be “more cost effective” and “better value for money”. Lower cost does not necessarily mean either of these claims will be true – cheaper is rarely better value. At the same time it is announced that there will be kerbside collections for plastic bottles, despite the existence of a number of well utilised disposal points. Admirable idea though it may be, surely it would be better to save that money and use it towards retaining the current food waste system.
The proposed new arrangement means waste is to go somewhere in Market Drayton, a facility which it appears is not even able to deal with compostable bags. How sad is that! Especially in comparison with the excellent (and LOCAL!) Biodigester system.
Another angry Ludlow resident
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