Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Topics
News
Workplace services
Compliance
Sustainability
Sectors
Standards
Energy management
Environmental Quality
Waste management
Energy Management Systems

Minister: Waste strategy will 'require' food waste collections

Open-access content Wednesday 12th December 2018 — updated 7.14pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
web_food_waste_iStock-174675486

AD industry joins coalition calling for food waste collections

Food service companies pledge to help halve food waste

Government must do the right thing with universal food waste collections 

12 December 2018 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal 

 

Investment minister Graham Stuart MP has said that the government's forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy will "require separate food waste collections" to reduce emissions from landfill and produce renewable energy and natural fertiliser through anaerobic digestion (AD).

 

Speaking at this week's ADBA National Conference 2018, Stuart said: "We want food waste to be collected separately for use in AD plants - to make the green biogas that can fertilise our crops and heat our homes: an environmentally sustainable option for waste management that cuts down on landfill.

 

"[The Resources & Waste Strategy will] tackle long-standing issues like waste crime, collection systems, packaging and plastic pollution - including requiring separate food waste collections."

 

Only around a third of households in England currently have their food waste separately collected, although collections are universal in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

 

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said in October that he would "like to see" a national separate food waste collection scheme, while a coalition of more than 40 trade bodies, campaign groups, businesses, and local authorities recently called on government to "fast-track" the roll-out of separate food waste collections across England.

 

Stuart described AD, which recycles inedible food waste into renewable energy and natural fertiliser, as "the best option to treat food wastes both from commercial and domestic sources".

 

He also spoke about the potential for the UK AD industry to export waste management services and technologies worldwide and highlighted the role of AD in decarbonising the UK's heat system and heavy transport, in restoring soils, and in reducing methane emissions.

 

Stuart's comments on the benefits of universal food waste collections were echoed at the conference by James Richardson, chief economist of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), who called for the policy to be implemented in its 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment.

 

Richardson said the NIC has a "very clear position" on AD and that the technology can save local authorities money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food waste, reduce contamination of other recyclable materials, and provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to use of natural gas in the gas grid.

 

He also quoted NIC findings that 79 per cent of people who do not currently use a food waste bin would be prepared to use one if it were provided by their local council and suggested that there is a frustration among local authorities and the public that there is currently no national standard for food waste collections.

 

Charlotte Morton, chief executive of the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA), said: "This is the strongest suggestion yet that the government's long-awaited Resources & Waste Strategy will include a commitment to universal food waste collections in England… It's an absolute no-brainer that inedible food waste should be separately collected so it doesn't end up wasted in incinerators or landfill and so that the energy and nutrition locked up in it can be reused, reducing the UK's need for fossil-fuel-based energy and fertiliser. 

 

"A commitment by ministers to universal food waste collections will finally allow England to catch up with the rest of the UK in recycling its inedible food waste whilst importantly also reducing the amount of food wasted in the first place."

Also filed in:
Topics
News
Content
Workplace services
Compliance
Sustainability
Sectors
Standards
Energy management
Environmental Quality
Waste management
Energy Management Systems

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Project Leader (Maternity Cover One Year Contract)

Cambridge
Circa £50,000 Pro Rata + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56378

Maintenance Supervisor

Surrey
Up to £43,000 + Excellent Package & Opportunities
Reference
56376

Regional Facilities Manager

South West England
Circa £40,000 + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56375
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2022 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ