July 4, 2019 1.06 pm This story is over 56 months old

South Kesteven food waste trial collects 314 tonnes in a year

Recycling rates in general have increased more than 11%
Food waste is treated at the specialised facility.

A food waste recycling pilot in South Kesteven has collected 314 tonnes of food waste in its first 12 months.

The trial, run by the county council-led Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, aimed to gauge participation rates of the potential new service.

It sees it collect the waste and process it into soil conditioner for farmers, which then also goes on to create electricity.

A report before the partnership next week says around six tonnes per week was collected across a collection round of 4,508 properties – with each household estimated to put out 1.78kg of food waste a week.

Recycling rates across the district in general have also increased by more than 11% with nearly half of waste now recycled.

Caddies taking part in the year-long food waste trial. Photo: South Kesteven District Council

The report concludes: “The food waste pilot is proving to have been a great success. The scheme has achieved most of its original objectives.

“This will benefit the LWP, giving it greater confidence, based on real evidence that food waste collections in Lincolnshire would be accepted by the public and will deliver the overall levels of benefits identified.”

The council saw 80.2% of properties in the pilot get involved, compared to averages between 35-55% in similar pilots elsewhere in the country.

Councillors will be told at next Thursday’s meeting that a decision to continue the trial has already been taken to build further evidence.

It is hoped to trial a number of different collection methods to the one used in the past year, including having a separate dedicated foo waste trial starting in autumn.

SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEKLY, our exclusive email newsletter with highlights from coverage every week, as well as insights and analysis from our local democracy reporters.