Liners for Food Caddies

Wolverhampton residents are advised that as of August 1, the city's waste partnership will no longer provide free replacement liners for food caddies.

The partnership - which is the city council working together with Enterprise Plc to manage the city's waste and recycling services - launched the food waste recycling scheme in January 2011.

It enables people to recycle waste meat, fish, fruit, veg, eggs, cheese, bread, cakes, pastries, rice, beans, pasta, tea bags, coffee grounds and scraps off plates.

Food waste is collected every week and taken to an anaerobic digestor plant in Staffordshire – a type of giant composter which converts the waste to energy and fertiliser.

The scheme is proving to be a success, exceeding its targets - with Wolverhampton residents now recycling an average of 362 tonnes of food waste each month.

When the scheme was launched, each household was given two free starter rolls of food caddy liners as a way of encouraging people to participate in the scheme.

To enable the promotion, the waste partnership purchased 200,000 rolls of liners using a grant from WRAP - the agency that promotes recycling in the UK.

After each household was given their two free rolls, a surplus of liners was left in stock. The waste partnership has been distributing the spare supply to households that requested them, but has always made it clear that the supply was limited.

The spare supply has now run out and, because the council has to make £44 million of savings over the next 5 years due to a reduction in central government resources, it cannot afford to purchase new liners or administer distributing them to households.

People have a range of options to bag up their food waste - including standard plastic supermarket carrier bags (but not reusable ‘bags for life’), newspaper or inexpensive nappy sacks. People are advised that there is no requirement for them to use more expensive special compostable liners because the digestor plant is unable to process them and removes all bags upon arrival at the facility.

Councillor John Reynolds, cabinet member for city services, said: "The food waste recycling service has been a great success in Wolverhampton. It makes a real contribution to the environment by producing renewable energy and reducing harmful gas emissions.

"We have always been clear that the provision of caddy liners was a temporary measure while stocks last. With decreasing funding from central Government, the council cannot afford to purchase new liners for all the thousands of households in the city.

"We think people will understand this, in the same way that they don't expect the council to provide them with normal bin bags."

More information about food waste recycling is available by calling City Direct on 01902 551155 or at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/recycling

Issued by Wolverhampton City Council’s News and Information Team.
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