The City of Edinburgh Council plans to start a kerbside pickup of food waste to boost the capital's recycling rate. Up to a quarter of Edinburgh's waste, that currently ends up in landfill, consists of biodegradable food waste.
A trial is currently underway in Glenogle Colonies (pictured) which, if successful, could
pave the way for introducing recycling collections to these housing
types early next year. The council maintains that part of the reason for Edinburgh's low recycling rate, by European and UK standards, is due to households such as
'colony' and multi-storey/high rise properties being historically difficult homes to introduce recycling facilities into.
The recycling of food waste could lead to the diversion of 15,105 tonnes from landfill per annum.
The council says that the processing of food requires "specific treatment technologies, of which there are no local processing facilities." It intends to put this out to tender later this year, with a view to rolling out the service in 2011.
Critics of the nascent scheme have argued that colony flats and other residences with gardens, even small ones, should be encouraged to compost their food scraps rather than expending energy and funds to carry the additional waste around the city. The treatment "technology" are worms, which can break vegetable scraps down in a matter of weeks.
Long road to zero waste
Earlier this year the Scottish Government announced plans to
establish a zero waste society. Edinburgh City Council is planning to increase the current
recycling rate from 30% to 40% by 2012 with a number of new initiatives and extensions of existing recycling schemes. These include increasing the number of on-street recycling banks across the city and encouraging more recycling at the Community Recycling Centres and reviewing opening hours.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, Environment Leader said, "These measures to extend and expand the city's recycling schemes mean that it will now be even easier for more residents to become involved and adopt the reduce, reuse and recycle approach . The Edinburgh public have shown that if we provide them with the facilities and opportunities to recycle then they will support us in this. This strategy shows our commitment to meeting our ambitious targets and will help us to reach 40% recycling by 2012."