Food waste bins are likely to be provided to every home in Glasgow by March 2017 after a successful pilot scheme.

On Thursday (13 August), city councillors will be asked to agree to the scheme that will be rolled out to all 300,000 homes in the city.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations passed by the Scottish Government in 2012 place a statutory duty on local authorities to provide a food waste collection service to all households in non-rural areas by 1 January 2016.

The pilot was carried out across 43,000 properties (a mix of kerbside, flats and high-rise) between July 2013 and July 2014, finding that 79 per cent of people stated that they were using the food waste recycling bin.

Over the pilot period, 2,145 tonnes of food was collected and diverted from landfill, increasing the city's recycling rate by almost 1 per cent. Kerbside properties recycled more food than the average quoted by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) while flats and multi-storey properties recycled less than other local authorities.

Currently, food waste in the city is mainly sent out with general waste for landfill.

Food waste service details

From January 2016, all kerbside homes that receive a weekly collection will be able to start recycling food waste in their existing brown bins. Every home will be provided with a kitchen food waste caddy for storage and bin liners.

Owners and tenants of the 151,000 flats in Glasgow will begin, from April 2016, to be able to put food waste in a communal bin behind the property while the 26,000 high-rise homes will have special communal bins next to the refuse area. These properties will receive their collections on a ‘phased basis’, with the system to be fully implemented by March 2017.

The operational costs from January 2016 until March 2018 are estimated to be approximately £10 million with another £800,000 being spent on the purchase of bins and waste caddies.

Some of the potential benefits outlined by Councillor Alistair Watson, Executive Member for Sustainability and Transport, in the report to be presented to the Executive Committee on Thursday are:

• the creation of 100 permanent jobs within the Low Emission Strategy (LES) for Scotland;
• the provision of an additional recycling service to all residents,;
• the diversion of waste from landfill; and
• an increase in the city’s recycling rate.

Service to support economic development in processing industry

The report states: ‘A ratio of 3:1 benefits to costs applies, therefore, an investment of £1 delivers £3 of social value. The introduction of the food waste service provides additional jobs, which will deliver an economic benefit.

‘The introduction of this service will provide employment opportunities within the City. The material collected will be processed locally creating and supporting economic development in the processing industry.’