Letter: What are the facts about food waste changes?

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