Lib Dems announce weekly food collections to begin again

6.17.00pm GMT Thu 24th Jan 2008

Oxford's Lib Dem city council has announced it intends to start up a pilot scheme this spring to ensure food waste can be collected from more than 6,500 properties in the city. Assuming it's successful, the pilot will be widened to include the whole of Oxford.

The Lib Dems' 'recycling revolution' in Oxford has been generally welcomed by residents, pleased at long last (after years of inaction by Labour) to be able to recycle plastics, garden waste, cardboard etc, and do their bit to help combat global warming. But the one issue which has proved controversial is whether food waste should be collected every week. Hopefully this pilot scheme - long part of the Lib Dem administration's plans for extending recycling - will help to demonstrate that were listening to those concerns, and acting to assuage them.

Here's an extract from today's front page Oxford Times report:

• 'Food waste pilot from spring' (24th Jan) - http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1990955.mostviewed.food_waste_pilot_from_spring.php

THOUSANDS of Oxford residents will see a return to weekly waste collections with food waste collected from April. A scheme to collect food and green waste from more 6,500 properties in the city is expected to be agreed by the city council's executive on Monday.

... With a food treatment plant not likely to be built before April 2009, more than ten per cent of Oxford's residents will benefit from a scheme a year early. ... The city council says it wants to see how kitchen waste collections work across different parts of the city, in properties of different sizes. ...

The scheme will try out different methods of storing and collecting food waste from householders. Ms Fooks said the council would experiment with different kinds of containers, to see which best suit people. Different types of properties will be covered during the trial to ensure that any future scheme is suitable for all types of dwellings in the city.

Food waste from Oxford will probably be sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, which produces bio-gas and is used to generate electricity. Compost is also produced for agricultural use. It is understood that the city council will be investing £95,000 in the scheme, with the balance coming from the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.