Decision day for green waste service

TOWN Hall chiefs will be asked tomorrow (Tuesday) to decide if it will be cost-effective to collect green waste along with food waste.
Five companies have submitted tenders both for treating green waste alone – as at present – and for treating mixed green and food waste.
Members of the borough council’s executive board will decide whether collecting and treating the two types of waste together, producing a quality compost, is affordable.
A number of other councils have started dealing with garden waste and food waste together, but this can be more expensive than treating garden waste alone.
More than 35 per cent of materials currently placed in Warrington’s black bins is food waste, so if it could be treated along with green garden waste the town could reduce the amount of waste which currently ends up in landfill.
Cllr David Keane (pictured), executive member for environment and public protection, in a report to the board, says the kerbside green bin recycling service has proved tremendously popular since it was introduced in 2006-7. It has contributed to a rise in the borough’s recycling rate which stood at more than 43 per cent last year.
Cllr Keane said: “Treating mixed food waste with green waste can be more expensive than treating green waste along.
“This is due to the fact that food waste has to be treated in sealed vessels at temperature to meet legislation that was created following the last outbreak of ‘Foot and Mouth.'”
Current budget for the service is £304,000 a year – with green waste being shredded and converted to compost in the open air at a site at Kenyon, Culcheth.