Trial in Portsmouth sees more than 70 tonnes of food waste recycled

MORE than 70 tonnes of food waste has been recycled in Portsmouth, within six weeks of a new bin trial.
Cllr Dave Ashmore outside the Guildhall with the new food waste caddiesCllr Dave Ashmore outside the Guildhall with the new food waste caddies
Cllr Dave Ashmore outside the Guildhall with the new food waste caddies

Since September households included in the city's food caddy scheme managed to separate 71.2 tonnes of food waste from general rubbish, meaning around 20 per cent of black bin waste was recycled.

A total of 8,172 homes were supplied with two food caddies - one for the kitchen and one for collection - with around 60 per cent of these taking part.

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For Portsmouth City Council's environment boss, Councillor Dave Ashmore, this was 'a great start.' He said: 'Sampling shows that across the city 40 per cent of black bag waste is food waste - so the initial results from the trial show that it is a great start.

'We're getting really positive feedback and lots of other residents across the city asking when they can get a food caddy for their food waste.

'The food waste caddies give residents another opportunity to recycle which all helps to improve the city's recycling rates.

'We're now considering how we roll the trial out across the city and how we recycle and convert our food waste locally.'

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During the trial food waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion plant in Bournemouth for treatment where it is converted to biogas and digestate, which can be used by farmers.

Food waste which isn’t suitable for composting such as chicken carcasses and cooked food can be disposed of in the caddies.

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