Delight at success of city food waste collections
Norwich City Council bosses have said they are delighted with the success of the new food waste collection scheme, which began this week.
Some 53,000 homes across the city have been given black and grey caddies for all food waste, which is being collected every week.
The caddies are intended for leftovers from meals and food that has passed its use-by date, as well as items such as potato peelings and eggshells. The waste is taken to a processing plant in Suffolk and used to make soil enhancer.
Adrian Akester, head of citywide services at the council, estimated the take-up rate among households with the new caddies was between 50 and 60 per cent.
The service was launched by council leader Steve Morphew and on Monday, its first day, 18 tonnes of food waste was collected. On Tuesday, the figure was 16 tonnes, on Wednesday 14 tonnes and yesterday's total was expected to reach 18 tonnes again.
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'It's gone fantastically well. There have been a few teething problems out on the ground, people putting the wrong bins out, querying things or getting a little bit confused, but there's been nothing there that's a cause for concern,' said Mr Akester. 'The vast majority of people have accepted it and I would give credit to our contractors Verdant for their flexibility in resolving any problems we get. In a local authority it's not often you get praise from the public, but we have had so many thank-yous for doing it. I've been working in local authorities for 20 years and it's taken me by surprise.'
Mr Akester said the scheme would ultimately save the council money by reducing the amount paid in landfill tax.
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Victoria Macdonald, cabinet member for environment, said: 'I'm very pleased. I've visited the plant where the waste is processed and seen truck after truck coming in. It really puts into perspective how much waste we are creating.
'I appreciate there have been some teething problems because some places have missed a week's collection, but I hope people bear with us and next week will have the right bins out.'
Do you have an environment story for the Evening News? Contact Jon Welch on 01603 772476 or email jon.welch@archant.co.uk
