Shropshire Star

Welcome for Telford food waste collection service

A new weekly recycling service for leftovers and kitchen waste will provide a much-needed cut in food waste, Newport's mayor has said.

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Councillor Peter Scott said that the new grey caddies being rolled out across Telford & Wrekin this year would help in the fight against food waste.

The free service starts in September and means that householders across the borough will have a service dedicated to food waste for the first time.

Waste that is collected will be converted into energy and fertiliser.

The service will be run by Veolia, Telford & Wrekin Council’s recycling and waste partner. As well as introducing a new food waste service, Veolia will also be re-routing some bin collection rounds from September.

"I'm 100 per cent behind it," Councillor Scott said.

"If we stop wasting food that's got to be a good thing for everybody.

"Supermarkets want us to buy more food, and there's only so much we can eat. This is a big push on food waste – it's something people have asked for. We hope there's a big uptake in the Newport area."

The service, which will begin in September, will be optional.

Liners

Each household will be given a kitchen caddy for their food waste, which comes with a supply of free biodegradable liners, as well as a larger outdoor caddy which can be presented at the kerbside every week.

The caddy is lockable and animals will not be able to get into them.

"The whole thing is well thought out and well presented," Councillor Scott said.

"The encouragement to use them will be there. There will also be a stark remind about the usage of other recycling bins, because there's some cross contamination happening now.

"I see a lot of bins, sometimes from young students or people from different areas who are used to different systems and don't know what goes where. It's going to be a big push on education."

Councillor Scott said he was hoping to set up an open presentation by Veolia on recycling bins, including the new caddy, in the coming months.

Similar food services across the country have proved popular and have led to increases in recycling rates.

Householders can expect to have their new food caddies delivered from the middle of August onwards.