Homes will join city’s waste recycling trial
Additions to the 8,000 signed up
AN EXTRA 10,000 homes in the city will be added to a 'fantastic' food waste trial.
Households in different areas of Portsmouth have now received food caddies with collections to start from today — adding to the other 8,000 homes that were already involved in the scheme.
As part of the trial the waste is recycled and turned into fuel and fertiliser, rather than incinerated.
Councillor Dave Ashmore, the council's cabinet member for environment and climate change, said: ‘ Portsmouth's food waste trial has had fantastic results over the past year.
‘I’m delighted we’re more than doubling the number of homes involved, just in time for Recycle Week.
‘We’ve seen an impressive collective effort in recycling across Portsmouth, with 774 tonnes of food waste sent to recycling.
‘That’s as much as the weight of 7.5 blue whales.
‘The residents’ commitment to recycling has been extremely positive and hope to build on this with the expansion of the food waste trial. We are committed to do whatever we can to reduce waste and recycle more.
‘Recycling is a big issue locally and nationally, residents are always asking us to do more and food waste is where we can make a really big difference, as it's food waste that makes up a huge amount of a lot of people's weekly rubbish collection - 40 per cent.
‘I am excited to see the results of the expanded food waste trial.’
Households included in the trial expansion will cover areas across Wymering, Paulsgrove, Charles Dickens, Buckland, Southsea and Milton.
They are supplied with a five-litre caddy for indoor use, a 23-litre caddy for the collection and one roll of compostable caddy liners.
Items that can be put in the caddy include all uneaten food and plate scrapings, teabags and coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, egg shells and cut flowers. It can’t be used for liquids or packaging of any kind.
It comes after the council announced it would spend £22.2m on a specialist anaerobic digestion plant to process food waste.
Food waste will be collected weekly on the same day as the rubbish collection.