Residents across Caerphilly County Borough are being encouraged to correctly dispose of their food waste after an exercise earlier this year showed that less than half of people were doing so.
Recycling advisors from Caerphilly County Borough Council will visit over 80,000 homes in the borough, after a monitoring exercise in May revealed that just 38% of the 7,000 randomly selected homes were recycling their food waste.
The council estimates that over 7,000 tonnes of food waste is being placed in general waste bins, rather than the designated lockable caddies.
The Welsh Government has set targets which require councils to recycle at least 64% of all waste collected by 2019/20 and 70% by 2024/25. Failure to do so could lead to fines being issued of up to £1 million.
The council’s waste management officers will be visiting homes throughout August and September.
Cllr Nigel George, Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services said: “We know that while the majority of residents participate in the brown bin recycling scheme, less than half take part in the weekly food waste collection scheme.
“We estimate that close to 7,000 tonnes of food waste is currently being placed in green general waste bins and that if every household participated in recycling food waste, the council could save nearly £200,000 a year which could go towards protecting other frontline services”.
“We provide food waste caddies to all households free of charge, and I really hope through this campaign residents will see just how easy it is to participate in the food waste recycling scheme.
“Their contribution really will make a huge difference, and help ensure that Caerphilly continues to be among the best performing councils in Wales when it comes to recycling”.
To request a free food waste caddy or to check your food waste collection day, call 01443 866533 or visit www.caerphilly.gov.uk.
Recycling advisors will also have food caddies available during their door step visits.
There is no doubt that many people do not use the recycle caddies, I know some that do not. I know one family that feed their dogs most of the waste and compost the remainder in their garden. There are others, equally with no doubt, I would say throw their food waste into the wrong bin.
Perhaps separating food waste from general is not the answer? The food waste scheme has been running for several years in Caerffili and if only 38% use it correctly there seems dubious that it will ever work as intended.
Composting is the answer. We don’t have a lot of cooked waste but if that is an issue then perhaps the council might want to discount the purchase of a “Hotbin”. £180 is a bit steep for me at the moment for such an item but if used properly they can recycle any waste.
Not that most recipients would use them properly but it might be another option for the council to discuss.
One thing is for sure, other options are needed. Composting, as you mention, is the best way but is difficult for those who have no, or a small, garden. Community composting coupled with more land being converted to allotments may help. Carting thousands of tonnes of waste around in lorries does not seem very efficient and if takeup remains poor then we will need a more balanced policy in the future.
Apart from the cost of transport we are wasting the nutrients within this waste that could be used to grow food and flowers.
Check out the “Hotbin composter”. It’s an actual product that would help in this particular instance as its able to compost anything and is the size of a wheelie bin.
But like i said, only if used correctly.
It’s probably not applicable here because plenty of people don’t use their recycling bins properly let alone put effort into anything else.
Too true!
Households are throwing away for too much waste, there are residents in my street who are putting out two 240 litre wheelie bins every bin collection day. It seems to be down to the attitude of the residents, most take the view that they pay their council tax so will throw out as much as they like and don’t care about the damage their waste habits are causing. Other councils seem to be very strict when it comes to household waste, Caerphilly appear extremely relaxed about it all, a little too relaxed from what I’ve witnessed.
There may soon come a time when waste is not an option as there isn’t enough to go around, then people will learn.
Caerphilly council need to get tough on waste and start handing out fines to selfish households who are throwing out far too much every week, no residential property requires more than one wheelie bin, they hold a massive amount. These recycling advisers will be a waste of time, they need to come out on bin collection days and see what is really going on.