WMNEG has written urging the BCC to review its food waste policy

Members of West Midlands New Economics Group (WMNEG) note the recent announcement that an independent review of the city’s waste service will be ‘commissioned by the council as part of the joint commitment to providing the best standard of service possible for Birmingham’s citizens, businesses and visitors’.

In light of the government’s new Resources and Waste Strategy, published December 2018, and updated in July 2019, WMNEG members strongly urge BCC to take this opportunity to review its policy on food waste (currently 48% of Birmingham’s waste stream, according to your own figures).

One of the consultants used in Birmingham City Council’s research for its waste strategy paper 2017-2040 (Ricardo, Best Practice in Waste Prevention, Reuse, Recycling and Recovery, 2016) refers briefly to Oxford County Council’s [sic – actually South Oxfordshire’s] weekly collection of food waste which, via anaerobic digestion, is turned into energy and fertiliser – but you seem to have rejected this example of good practice (presented to the people of South Oxfordshire in admirably simple terms: see Appendix).

WMNEG would like to draw BCC’s attention to another example of good practice, a city of over three-quarters of a million people whose diversity matches that of Birmingham – San Francisco. Here the city authorities have engaged in an enthusiastic and successful programme of education about food waste collection, particularly in hotels and restaurants (with financial incentives part of the deal), but also in residential apartment blocks (considered problematic by many urban authorities). San Francisco’s composting facility is located 70 miles from the city – away from populated areas to avoid odour problems, and close to farms that purchase and use the compost to grow fruit, vegetables and grapes for wine – much of which produce is consumed in San Francisco. A circular economy indeed! (Sources: The Zero Waste Solution (Connett); San Francisco’s own website)

With climate change and reductions in the city’s carbon dioxide emissions also high on BCC’s agenda, note that, according to Connett, ‘agronomists say if every city replicated San Francisco’s urban compost collection programme [i.e. food waste and garden waste], we could offset more than 20% of the nation’s carbon emissions.’

Former Cabinet Member with this portfolio, Lisa Trickett, wrote in her blog (27 September 2017) of the need to decrease food waste rather than collect and recycle it, but surely in the real world both approaches are needed simultaneously?

WMNEG would urge BCC to take another look at food waste as a resource, in line with the principle adopted in your own strategy of recognising that ‘waste’ is in fact potentially a valuable resource, and that the ‘circular economy’ is the economy of the future.

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Appendix: South Oxfordshire District Council’s information for householders (from their website)

Your food is collected every week. Use your small kitchen bin to collect your food scraps each day and then transfer them into the large food recycling bin which we’ll empty each week.

What can I put in my food recycling bin?

• All your raw and cooked food waste such as leftovers and spoilt food, and including:
• meat and fish – raw and cooked including bones
• all dairy products such as cheese and eggs
• raw and cooked vegetables and fruit
• bread, cakes and pastries
• rice, pasta and beans
• uneaten food from your plates and dishes
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• cooking oil, lard and fats (can be placed in a plastic bottle inside the caddy)
• old cut flowers

NEW! We can now collect cooking oil placed in a plastic bottle (no bigger than 1 litre) from inside your food waste caddy…’

 

 

 

 

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