Food and garden waste collections to be discussed by councillors

Plans for separate food and garden waste collections are set to be discussed by councillors.

Members of Basildon Council’s Leisure and Environment Committee will meet on Thursday 24 June and be asked to agree a consultation and a draft timeline of when changes could take place.

A six-week trial of separate food and garden waste collections in December 2020 across the borough concluded earlier this year.

Feedback received from the majority of properties who took part in the trial found it positive, with 88% stating they would be happy for the service to be introduced in the future.

Those taking part in the trial, which ended in January, were asked to leave out a 23 litre external caddy for their food waste instead of including it in another collection.

Chair of the committee Councillor Craig Rimmer said:

“Currently around a third of what we collect in our residual waste collections is food waste, meaning the council is sending significant amounts of additional waste to landfill when this is not required.

“Sending food waste to landfill contributes unnecessarily to our carbon footprint and we must do all we can to reduce our environmental impact.

“The National Waste Strategy and Environment Bill as well as the ambitions of our own Waste Strategy make these changes vitally important. We also need to make sure that we have a sustainable outlet for our organic wastes after 2022.

“We need to make sure our services deliver for both our residents and businesses. Whilst there are some things we have to do under the Environment Bill we are seeking residents views as to how to make the most of them.”