ADBA calls for separation of food waste in England

In a press release, the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) announced that it is calling for the UK government to ‘do the right thing’ and enable separate food waste collection in England, as is the case in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Separate food waste collection is only available to 25% of households in England.

The National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) analysis shows that introducing universal food waste collection in England would save up to €450 million ($525 million) in capital costs and €1.2 billion ($1.44 billion) in operational costs for local authorities between 2020 and 2050.

ADBA also claims that introducing universal food waste collection would help local authorities to streamline their recycling systems and reduce the costs of black-bag waste to landfill.

Environmentally, ADBA alleges that universal collection of food waste would achieve a carbon saving of between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per year, which is the equivalent of taking 750,000 cars off the road.

6 million tonnes of food waste is currently sent to incineration or landfill, with the vast majority of this being suitable for recycling through anaerobic digestion (AD) and some suitable for redistribution to humans or animals.

“Separating inedible food waste from other waste streams so that energy and nutrients can be fully recovered has huge environmental and economic benefits. The government has a clear opportunity in its Resources & Waste Strategy to do the right thing and make the UK a leader in the growing circular economy by introducing universal food waste collections and meaningful support for local authorities in introducing these. Given the well-known scale of food waste and loss and its impacts worldwide, failing to do so would represent a real failure of leadership by ministers,” said Charlotte Morton, chief executive of the ADBA.

“Over the coming weeks, ADBA will be meeting senior government advisors and speaking to politicians from across the political spectrum at the autumn party conferences to hammer home the importance of sustainable food waste management and the need for urgent action.”