‘Strong start’ to new food bin collections

New weekly food waste collections in Derby have got off to a 'strong start' say leaders. Image by LDRS.

New food bin collections in Derby are off to a “strong start” despite there still being a shortage of vehicles.

Weekly food waste collections have begun in Derby and across the country to reduce environmental impact.

Thousands of households have been given new food caddies by the council to dispose food waste as part of a £2 million scheme for the city.

Derby City Council says the new service is helping reduce the amount of waste sent for disposal, cut emissions and support its climate change action plan.

More than 430 tonnes of food waste have been diverted from black bins during the first month of food waste collections in Derby.

However, it was reported there were teething problems at the start of the scheme which began on March 31.

The city council said there were vehicle and staffing issues that prevented all bins from being collected.

Council chiefs say more food waste trucks are now in operation but are still running short on numbers. They say more will be coming to the council’s storage depot over the next few weeks.

Councillor Ndukwe Onuoha said progress has been made since the teething problems and there “were no reports of missed collections” last week.

He said: “It’s been going well and better than expected in terms of take-up. On balance, we have a good collection rate and last week alone residents will have noted that there were no reports of missed collections because the teams are getting more used to rounds. 

“Residents are happy to take part in this. People are enthusiastic about it and are using it. I’d encourage residents to keep on doing it.

“What we’ve seen is the increase in waste collection, we’ve also seen a decrease in the amount of waste collection from the general waste. In doing so, we’ve reduced the amount of waste that goes to landfill and saving about £70k in the process.  

Collected food waste is processed locally at Severn Trent’s Green Power plant in Spondon, where it is used to generate renewable energy.

The city council’s waste services chief Craig Denmark said missed bin collections “shouldn’t be a major problem” now the service has “bedded in”.

Mr Denmark, head of waste,  said: “At the beginning we had a few teething problems with vehicles and route planning but as the last few weeks have been really good. Our missed bin collections have been significantly down .

“Initially we were expecting 14 new vehicles. [At first] we only ended up with two vehicles and ten hire vehicles. There were a number of problems with them [hire vehicles] such as breakdowns and things like that. 

“There’s been new staff and bedding times take two to three weeks. I think we are there now. We’ve got a lot less complaints than we did in the first couple of weeks.”

Mr Denmark urged residents to leave their new food caddies out if not collected.

He added: “If your bin isn’t full, carry on filling it up for the following week, leave it out for the day after because we may come back to collect the day after.”