Tonnes of food waste collected already by SKDC
More than three tonnes of food waste has been collected in the first two days of South Kesteven’s food waste recycling trial.
The project, which started on Monday (4 June), is being delivered by South Kesteven District Council and funded by Lincolnshire County Council on behalf of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.
The year-long trial will collect food waste from almost 4,700 households, taking in rural and urban areas across South Kesteven. Residents on the trial will put out their food caddy every week for collection with their black or silver bin waste.
South Kesteven District Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Coun Dr Peter Moseley, said: “I really appreciate the efforts of our residents in helping this trial to be a success.
“We’ve learned a huge amount just from day one and I hope this continues as the weeks progress.”
Coun Eddy Poll, Lincolnshire County Council’s Executive Member for Commercial and Environmental Management, said: “We’ll all be looking closely at the figures and feedback throughout this trial to see whether it’s something that can be taken up more widely.”
On Monday 1.3 tonnes of food waste was collected from homes in Dowsby, Pointon, Rippingale and Kirkby Underwood. On Tuesday, a further 1.9 tonnes was collected from 970 properties in Grantham, Long Bennington and Foston.
Resident John Lee, of Tennyson Avenue, Grantham, said: “We started saving our food waste last week and it looks like a weekly collection will be just right. We’ve been putting peelings, egg shells and all our other waste food in.”
Jane Hunt, also of Tennyson Avenue, said: “It’s about time we started recycling food waste. It’s easy to do. I give the birds some of the bread but I put the rest in the caddy for the bin lorry.”
John Squires, of Byron Avenue, Grantham, said: “We don’t waste much food but this is better than what we had before.”
The scheme helps people see and reduce their waste. Collecting food waste separately also enables the County Council to process the waste in a less expensive and more environmentally-friendly way.
Food waste collected is turned into green electricity for the national grid and soil conditioner for farmers.
