LAWR

ANAEROBIC DIGESTION o ban or not to ban? It's a question that has had politicians going round in circles for years as they grapple with rising levels of food waste. Labour put its head above the parapet a couple of years ago – "A One Nation Labour government will ban food from landfill," said the then shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh – but backtracked earlier this year when the Conservatives costed the move at £477m in the 2015/16 financial year. With the parties seemingly in a dead heat just before polling day (at the time of writing) it's anyone's guess what will be on the cards come 8 May. But the UK clearly has a food waste problem. In England, about four million tonnes of food waste ends up in landfill every year. "The government must find ways of diverting more food waste out of the residual stream by methods which are economically and environmentally viable and suitable to local circumstances," noted the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in its 2014/15 Waste Management in England report. Ambitious plans Elsewhere, devolved administrations are already doing just that, thanks to a portfolio of ambitious policies. The Food Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 have just come in to force, and a ban on landfilling separately collected food waste is now in place. By April 2017 councils will need to offer separate food waste collections to all households. It won't be easy. With details surrounding the collections requiring clarification, it's touch and go whether the April 2017 deadline will be met. Under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, councils have had more time to prepare. Looking at the latest figures there are now 1.46m households with a food waste collection (62%). To put this in context, prior to the requirements of the zero waste regulations, only 307,000 households (13%) had a food waste service. Jamie Pitcairn, director at consultants Ricardo-AEA Scotland, was involved in drafting the regulations back in 2011; at the time the government made it clear that local authorities and the resource management sector needed sufficient time to develop their services and infrastructure. As reported in LAWR last month, some councils are struggling to get residents involved, 12 Local Authority Waste & Recycling June 2015 T Crunch time for food waste collections Northern Ireland's decision to ban food waste from landfill has thrust the issue back in the spotlight. But can the controversial policy stimulate anaerobic digestion and save councils money? David Burrows reports.

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