St Helens Council: Kerbside Collected Food Waste IS Being Recycled Following Bag Swap

In the North West of England, St Helens Council has moved swiftly to reassure residents that food waste collected by recycling teams does NOT go into landfill sites. The council explained that doubts had been raised after it switched from biodegradable food caddy liners to lightweight plastic bags – a change which it said was the of result of new processes introduced by its waste contractor allowing greater efficiencies to be made. The change was also said to have saved money for Council Tax payers. The new system also gives residents greater convenience - allowing them to use whichever bags they choose, including their own biodegradable bags. However, according to St Helens Council’s cabinet member for environment and neighbourhoods, Councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron, some jumped to the wrong conclusions. "It’s important that we clarify that food waste has always been recycled – and will continue to be recycled," he said. "Equipment used by Biffa shreds the plastic bags and extracts them from the food waste – which goes to power a biofuel facility in the Midlands (the Poplars Anaerobic Digestion Facility pictured above)." The council also noted that the extracted bags don’t go to waste either, and are sent to a waste to energy facility where they are incinerated to create more energy. In terms of financial savings, the council said that avoiding landfill tax by recycling around 3900 tonnes of food waste has saved it more than £310,000 over the last 12 month. The council also noted that the performance mirrors its improving recycling performance across the board, with council teams helping it to a record breaking week just after Christmas that saw over 500 tonnes of recycling collected from St Helens homes – beating the previous weekly record by 150 tonnes. "It’s a real tribute to the efforts of our residents," said Councillor Gomez-Aspron, "and proves that people are not just doing what we ask them to – but are actively embracing the whole recycling culture.” "The recycling percentage has increased dramatically over the last year – going up from 30.5% to just over 44%,” concluded Gomez-Aspron. Read More Recycling Firm Avangard Innovativ Partners with Food Waste Technology Specialist in U.S. Chestnut Ridge, New York based on-site aerobic digestion technology developer, BioHitech America, has partnered with Texas based Avangard Innovative – a specialist in collecting recyclable materials and supplying zero waste services and assistance to industry. MW Waste to Biomethane for Grid Injection Project Nears Completion on Isle of Wight An anaerobic digester that will produce biomethane for grid injection from a combination of agricultural organic wastes and energy crops is nearing completion on the Isle of Wight, just off England’s south coast by Schmack Biogas UK. £115m Waste & Recycling Contract Extension for Biffa in the Wirral In the North West of England Biffa has secured a long-term £115 million contract extension to its waste and recycling contract with Wirral Council. EBA Report: European Biogas Industry Continues to Grow, but is there Trouble Ahead? The number of operational anaerobic digestion plants producing biogas in Europe has risen to over 14,500 according to the European Biogas Association’s Biogas Report 2014.