by Katie Fletcher (Biomass Magazine) A recent report entitled “The Real Economic Benefit of Separate Biowaste Collections” released by U.K.-based Renewable Energy Association shows that food waste collected separately in a majority of situations can reduce costs for businesses and local authorities.
The U.K. has a legally binding recycling target of 50 percent by 2020. According to the REA, the U.K. is presently at 45 percent and falling, with no clear plan from government to improve this performance.
The REA recognizes in the report that although it is counterintuitive for many organizations, a number of factors can actually reduce costs compared to regular general (residual) waste collections. These factors include separate food and other biowaste collections require fewer general waste collections (once the putrescible material has been removed on a weekly basis), separately collected food and other biowaste significantly reduces the weight of general waste collections, which in turn reduces the cost of disposing of general wastes in landfill (lower weight reduces gate fees charges by landfills), and gate fees for the separately collected food waste are significantly lower at anaerobic digestion (AD) or composting facilities compared to landfill sites.
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In addition to the direct savings, there is evidence that separating food waste will help to increase and improve dry recycling, leading to further waste collection savings for businesses, as well as helping producers identify and prevent food waste.
However, the report states that market forces alone will not produce these benefits quickly or effectively enough in comparison to government intervention, so a mandatory requirement on food businesses to separate food waste will therefore enable them to make savings, which are less likely to be achieved without legislation.
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