Brown bin focus on food to aid recycling
A few simple steps...will help us achieve our recycling targets and help the planet
Cllr Angus Forbes
Perth and Kinross Council is urging householders to take part in a survey about food waste.
Preventing food waste from going to landfill is one of the simplest ways that people can contribute to the fight against climate change.
When food waste is put in the general waste bin it is buried in landfill where it can’t rot down properly, generating methane, which is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
And according to the council, the average household fills one third of their general waste bin with food waste - a significant proportion of which officers say is still edible.
The local authority’s waste services team is therefore keen to work with householders to overcome any barriers to diverting their food waste from landfill and is running the survey as part of this.
The team plans to deliver a series of food waste campaigns this year, focussing on minimising the amount of edible,
avoidable food waste being disposed of, and encouraging householders to recycle their unavoidable food waste.
And while the majority of households across Perth and Kinross has a brown bin for recycling cooked and uncooked food waste, the team will also work with householders who do not have the brown bin service for food and garden waste so that everyone – regardless of whether they live in a rural or urban area – can divert food waste from landfill.
Councillor Angus Forbes is the convener of the environment and infrastructure committee.
He said: “The waste services team would like to hear about your household’s food waste so that we can work together
to reduce climate change.
“Each community is different, and the needs in the city are different to those in the towns and villages across the council area. Officers are listening to the survey feedback from householders in urban and rural parts of the council area and building mini-projects that will help food waste reduction and food waste recycling become as accessible as possible for everyone in the community.
“Together, we can devise mini-projects which will help Perth and Kinross to minimise the amount of food being wasted and, in doing so, reduce our community’s impact on climate change.
“The survey should only take a few minutes to complete and asks questions
about what food waste your household has, what you do with your food waste, what you’d ideally like to do with your food waste and what sort of food waste recycling systems you’d like to see introduced – so that we can all work together to help divert food waste from landfill.
“The survey will also measure the knowledge and interest in food waste reduction activities, and householders taking part in the survey can view everyone else’s comments and agree or disagree with them.”
To complete the survey, visit www.pkc. gov.uk or call 01738 476476 to request a paper copy prior to the Monday, February 14, deadline.