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  Bowlands, Moor Ln, Bilbrough,
York
YO23 3PQ

• GreenloopUK
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Business Profile

York's rubbish removal and recycling strategy and the importance of food waste! Just under two million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK every year. This is a staggering amount.

Food waste makes up 40% of municipal waste collected in the UK.

We are reported to spend £1,000 per year, and five hours per month on buying unwanted food.

Bulk discount is partly to blame for purchasing more food than is required. Furthermore the large shopping trolleys supermarkets provide, often make it difficult to actually quantify just how much you are buying!

Twenty percent of food wasted is due to confusion between the ‘used by date,’ and ‘best before date.’ Used by date indicates a time after which it is not advisable to consume the food. This is applicable in particular to meats. Food is often perfectly edible, and doesn’t taste any different post the ‘best before date.’

Can I mix food waste with green waste?

Some local authorities allow you to mix food waste and green waste (grass clippings, branches etc). Some however, do not. York City Council for instance does not allow you to place food waste into the garden waste bin. It does not provide any solution to food waste, and instead suggests this valuable resource goes straight into the black bin.

When it comes to providing information on what is acceptable for your green waste bin collection, food waste is greeted with a ‘no thanks’ on the York Council website.

This places it behind neighbouring councils such as East Riding Council, which actively encourage mixing food into your green waste collection. If you do a garden clearance in East Riding you can layer the leaves and grass cuttings, with the leftovers from your dinner!

So what happens once York Council collects your garden waste?

Yorwaste have the contract for dealing with York’s municipal waste. Yorwaste are partnered with a company called: SJB Recycling.

This partnership puts the green waste through a process called ‘Open Windrow Composting.’ That is composting on a commercial scale in the open air.

Open Windrow Composting:

Composting is a naturally occurring process which converts biodegradable waste into a humus like substance. This can be optimised by controlling aeration, moisture and temperature.

Green waste is shredded into long, elongated around 4m high. The windrows are turned regularly to ensure they are well oxygenated, moisture is distributed evenly, and temperature uniform throughout. This stage takes on average around sixteen weeks, depending on maturity requirements.

Finally the compost is screened to remove plastic, metals or any other contaminants.

Ultimately much of the green waste collected on behalf of York Council is composted and rebranded as ‘Yorganics.’ A fertilizer brand created by Yorwaste.

The screening process grades the product between 0mm and 40mm depending on the requirements. Uses include: soil improver, turf dressing, mulch, topsoil and growing medium.

Composting significantly reduces waste volume, kills pathogens and significantly reduces the germination of weeds.

Does York’s waste disposal program go far enough?

Councillor Mark Warters has long called for a complete overhaul of York’s rubbish removal program, describing York’s recycling rates as ‘pathetic.’ His comments were featured in an article written by the York Press at the end of 2018:

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/17290863.call-for-overhaul-of-york-recycling-as-service-branded-garbage/

How can York’s recycling ability be increased?

York’s recycling methods involve putting multiple boxes out on the street on varying dates. This makes it more inconvenient for people to recycle than is necessary.

East Riding have a much more efficient system for mixed dry recycling. Employing a single blue wheelie bin rather than the multi-box method used by York City. As Mr Warters has consistently alluded to, why doesn’t York Council model its rubbish removal and recycling strategy on that employed by its award winning neighbour.

Above is an extract from the UK government statistics (2017-18) on waste collection. It illustrates how well East Riding are doing in terms of recycling, finishing top in the country. Some local authorities appear to be doing an appalling job with Newham LB recycling just 14% of it’s waste! Note that the best recyclers: East Riding, South Oxfordshire District and Rochford District all have a notably high rate of organic recycling. That is anything biodegradable coming from a plant or an animal.

Taking the above into consideration York City Council as well as many others, desperately need to make use of their food waste. This is hopefully being addressed in York, and Yorwaste are looking at possible sites to increase their composting ability. Presumably they are under pressure to do so, or contracts may be awarded elsewhere.

The most immediate way to do this is through In-Vessel Composting.

Read full article: http://www.greenloop.co.uk/index.php/2019/02/20/york-rubbish-removal-food-waste/

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