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ANAEROBIC DIGESTION 14 Local Authority Waste & Recycling June 2015 the country's households. This doesn't include any additional communication costs, but does take account of any savings in landfill costs. Of course, the cost implications for any council opting for source-segregated food waste collections will depend on compatibility with the existing collection policy. But Charlotte Morton, chief executive at the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), says it should be a "no brainer". "Where food waste collections are well integrated, there can be tangible savings," she says, noting savings at Peterborough City and East Dunbartonshire council of £500,000 and £680,000 respectively (page 18). And yet the absence of any ban, mandatory collections or indeed targets in England is "severely constraining" the rollout of AD, says Morton. The latest report on AD capacity in the UK also shows signs that accessibility rather than availability is the issue (see page 10). "Only two million tonnes of the reported 16 million tonnes of food waste generated every year in the UK is currently treated through AD," says Lucy Hopwood, lead consultant for bioenergy and AD at consultants NNFCC. Capacity surge England's approach – or lack of it – is to blame say those involved in food waste treatment. "Despite creating a significant percentage of the UK's total food waste volume, lack of regulation and limited government support is holding us back," says Philip Simpson, commercial director at food recycling company ReFood. "[In England], we can't continue to rely on voluntary decisions by local authorities." " We can't continue to rely on voluntary decisions by local authorities " ReFood has calculated that a landfill ban on food waste could generate over 1.1tW of renewable energy, lower greenhouse gas emissions by 27m tonnes, return over 1.3m tonnes of nutrients to the soil and save the public sector over £3.7bn by 2020. Northern Ireland currently has only one of the UK's 91 food waste plants, but ADBA is expecting a "surge in new plant commissions in the wake of the policy decision". In Scotland, the sector has responded to its new regulatory drivers – three new AD plants are now built and operational, and there's been a "large increase" in in-vessel composting capacity, says Ricardo-AEA's Pitcairn. Whether that's enough capacity for next year, when another three local authorities roll out food waste collections and the threshold for food businesses to separate out food waste drops from 50kg to 5kg, is "doubtful". Indeed, the challenges involved in these kinds of ambitious food waste policies should not be underestimated. "It has taken four years and a lot of money to get to this point," says Pitcairn. Alternative approaches Separate food waste collections are rising across the UK, but the pace of change is much quicker in Scotland and Wales where new regulations are in force. Northern Ireland has followed their lead. There are no signs of movement in England, with fears rising that expansion of AD could stall as a result. 2012/13 food waste collections 2013/14 food waste collections l Both l Food + garden l None l Separate food waste Source: Wrap, 2015 England Wales Scotland NI England Wales Scotland NI 3 22 49 26 5 95 25 41 34 4 12 58 27 47 25 23 21 19 58 15 6 5 3 29 95 53 4

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