Review of food waste recycling in rural areas

As the population becomes more climate conscious, people are looking for extra ways to reduce their impact on the environment.

One way is to segregate food from general waste because as food breaks down in landfill, it releases methane into the atmosphere, a substance many times more potent than carbon dioxide.

At the moment, recycling of food waste – to be made into things like compost for local authorities to use – is only carried out in urban areas, with Inverness being the only place in Highland where it can be done.

However, Zero Waste Scotland is undertaking a review of the feasibility of offering food waste bins in more rural areas, such as Fort William.

A spokesperson for ZWS said: ‘At present, Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 defines most of the Highlands as being under the rural exemption so food waste segregation only applies in Inverness.

‘Some other Scottish councils, however, do provide a service even in rurally exempt areas and we have been involved in trying to collate information on these “above and beyond” collections.

‘A measure from last year’s Food Waste Reduction Action Plan is to “consult on the rural exemption and review the food waste separation requirements”.

‘This includes looking at the potential benefits and impacts of updating the rural exemption classification, particularly to accommodate population changes, for both households and businesses.’