RRF conference - Maximising participation in food waste collection systems:

London, UK
March 27, 2008

RRF collaborated with Defra and Brook Lyndhurst to hold an international conference on food waste collections and householder engagement.

Read the Defra News Release here. Environment Minister, Joan Ruddock, said:

“Food wastage is an increasingly important issue, on environmental, sustainability, climate change and equity grounds. There is also the real loss to the economy of so much potential value.

“This research shows that much more can be done cost effectively to prevent food wastage and to recover value from what is thrown away. Food waste recycling was targeted by our Waste Strategy, and current studies show how local authorities can make real advances.

“European and UK legislation to divert municipal biodegradable waste from landfill rightly imposes tough targets. Food waste recycling has an important role to play in helping Britain meet its international obligations.

“The most important lesson to learn is that householders do want to play their part. Government needs to provide support and guidance, and current research is helping to inform the debate.”

During 2007 an important study was led by consultants Brook Lyndhurst with Waste Watch, and commissioned by the Waste and Resources Evidence Programme of the UK Government's environment Department, Defra. The study is now complete and the Resource Recovery Forum is arranging to disseminate the results.

The main aim of the project was to provide actionable research to help:

• waste authorities and contractors to design services and communications campaigns for maximum impact on public participation in food waste collections
• strategic agencies and policy makers to inform their own communications campaigns and funding programmes
• policy-makers and the waste industry to understand barriers to the development of treatment infrastructure which could arise from what the public is willing to do

The project addressed:

• householder motivations and barriers to using food waste collections
• effects of scheme design on participation

The conference also heard an update on another Defra-funded project. The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have been trialling household food waste collection systems. WRAP is supporting 19 councils to conduct weekly food waste collection trials, to develop good practice guidance in the design and operation of food waste collection schemes.

These trials are testing last year’s research which indicated that councils should consider collecting food waste separately as:

• this achieves the highest capture rates if collected weekly
• benefits are pronounced when the refuse is collected less frequently
• this minimises the processing costs, as the results show that cost burdens on local authorities can be higher when food waste is simply bulked in with existing garden waste schemes.

Building on the findings of this research the trials have been designed to assess the costs and performance of food only collections in a UK context. This has involved the provision of containers and liners, design and issue of communication materials to householders, and trying out different collection vehicles and crewing levels. Extensive monitoring of the trials include participation monitoring, capture rate analysis and customer feedback.

Early results are encouraging and suggest that the schemes have been well received and are acceptable to householders. Initial diversion estimates indicate that around 3kg of food waste per week is being collected from households taking part. Participation rates so far are in the range 50 per cent to 80 per cent. The final report on the trials is expected in early June.

Here is the downloadable programme for the day. Below are the presentations.