Agenda item

Report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.

31.1     The Waste Team Manager introduced the report and summarised the key points and implications for the Council of the requirement in the Environment Act 2021 for councils to provide a food waste collection service. The report outlines the implications for East Sussex County Council (ESCC) as the waste disposal authority. The District and Borough councils (D&Bs) in East Sussex, who are the waste collection authorities (WCAs), will be responsible for operating the food waste collection service and they will then deliver the food waste to ESCC for composting. The Waste Team Manager outlined that he thought ESCC was in a good position to deal with this new requirement with the waste disposal facilities that are already in place.

31.2     The Committee discussed the report and a summary of the key points and questions raised is given below.

Use of home composting ‘hot bins’

31.3     The Committee commented that providing food waste collections in rural areas could be expensive and asked whether the Council could request that the WCAs offer ‘hot bins’ for food waste composting instead of food collections. The Waste Team Manager explained that it is a legal requirement to collect food waste so it might not be possible to offer home food composting facilities as an alternative. However, he would investigate and come back to the Committee with an answer.

Food waste composition of ‘black bag’ residual waste

31.4     The Committee questioned whether the estimate of around one third of ‘black bag’ (residual) waste being food waste was accurate, as Covid and the cost of living crisis has made people much more aware of reducing wasting food. The Committee also asked if the Waste Team knows the proportion of the different types of food waste to draw a distinction between the ones that could be minimised (e.g. the proportion of surplus food waste/cooked food, versus food preparation waste such as peelings that are less amenable to waste minimisation). The Waste Team Manager responded that percentage of food waste in black bins is quite high, and the Waste Team is planning to carry to carry out a composition study to get an up to date analysis of the composition of ‘black bag’ waste. This will cover the different types of food waste.

Environmental impacts of food waste collection

31.5     The Committee commented that a food waste collection service would add extra vehicle movements and carbon emissions and increase resource use. It asked what the energy and environmental costs would be of the food collection service and whether ESCC would monitor the impact on carbon emissions. The Waste Team Manager explained that not all vehicle movements to deliver food waste for disposal would be to the Woodlands facility at Whitesmith. There will be other hubs to collect food waste in Brighton and Pebsham to bulk up food waste before transporting it for processing at the Woodlands site. He outlined that the carbon emissions for the service will be monitored.

Education and Communication to reduce food waste

31.6     The Committee agreed that it would be better to try and minimise food waste through education and asked if there was a role for ESCC in working with the WCAs on communications and education activities to minimise food waste. The Waste Team Manager responded that minimising food waste is very important, and the Team will do some work on this with the WCAs. ESCC can also work with the WCAs on communications and education activities and the Waste Team is happy to do this.

Food waste processing/composting capacity

31.7     The Committee noted that the capacity at the current composting facility at Woodlands may eventually be exceeded and there may be up to an additional 5,000 tonnes of food waste per year. It asked whether ESCC is investigating increasing food waste processing capacity in case the amount of food waste collected exceeds current capacity, and whether establishing smaller scale local processing/composting facilities is being considered to reduce transport requirements.

31.8     The Waste Team Manager outlined that the Team is talking to Veolia about the possibility of expanding capacity at the Woodlands facility. However, it is difficult to predict how much food waste will actually be collected and typically the amounts drop off following the introduction of a food waste collection service due to behaviour change. Therefore, it is hard to predict the need for extra capacity. The development of smaller scale local community composting groups is something that could be explored at a local level (e.g. with local community groups via the District & Borough councils).

Collection arrangements

31.9     Collections from flats and apartment blocks will be something that the WCAs will decide but is likely that blocks of flats will be provided with communal food waste collection facilities.

31.10   The Committee asked whether providing a food waste collection service is compulsory and can people opt out. The Waste Team Manager responded that it is compulsory to provide a separate weekly collection and it is likely all local authorities will have to do so by March 2025. Everyone will get a food waste caddy due to the obligation to provide a food waste collection service.

Funding

31.11   The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have indicated verbally that County Councils will not received any extra funding for food waste collections as it is expected that they will make a saving because composting/processing food waste is cheaper than processing ‘black bag’ waste. Additional new burden funding will be made available to WCAs to cover the capital costs of providing the food waste collection service and possibly to cover some of the revenue costs.

31.12   The Committee asked when more detailed information would be available on the collection requirements and funding. The Waste Team Manager outlined that it could be imminently in the next two to three weeks or after the local government elections.

31.13   The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) Note the report; and

2) Request and update report in three to six months time.