The Isle of Wight Council and its partner Amey are thanking everyone who visited the recent food waste roadshow over the summer.
An estimated 1,500 people visited the roadshow as it toured the Island as part of a food waste campaign. Nearly 2,000 food waste bins were given out on the tour.
Due to the popularity of the roadshow, further dates have been announced over September. In addition, many areas across the Island will be visited on their collection day to provide food waste information leaflets to households who are not using their food caddies.
Food waste roadshow – new dates added
Date, Venue, Town, Time
Thursday 2 September,
Tesco Extra, Ryde,10am – 3pm
Saturday 4 September,
Newport Market (St Thomas Square), Newport, 9am – 4pm
Wednesday 15 September,
Ventnor, Central Park (opposite Tesco Express), Ventnor, 10am – 3pm
Monday 20 September,
Cowes Parade, Cowes, 10am – 3pm
Thursday 23 September,
Yarmouth Pier Street car park, Yarmouth, 10am – 3pm
The roadshow was in response to the results of a waste composition study in 2020, which found 25 per cent of general waste was food that could have been recycled. Almost a fifth of residents in the study were not using a food caddy to dispose of food waste.
The campaign also gave an insight into what happens to our food through a video produced on behalf of the council by Amey and Wight Media Services.
Food waste Q and A
How much food is wasted in the UK, on average?
Around 7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by UK households every year – an average of £700 of food shopping. (Figures from Recycle Now).
Why do we recycle food waste?
Reducing food waste in the first instance is best but recycling our food waste If food waste ends up in landfill, it rots and releases methane, a damaging greenhouse gas. Our priority is to minimise food waste occurring in the first place, followed by composting food waste that cannot be prevented, reduced or composted at home. The last resort is to send food waste to the Basingstoke Anaerobic Digestion (AD) site.
I’ve seen my food waste thrown in the back of the lorry with everything else, why bother?
Our collection vehicles have separate compartments at the back for recycling and waste. Our collection crews empty food waste into one large bin which they then empty into the correct compartment. This is quicker than emptying each food waste container, one at a time.
I need an indoor food waste caddie and outdoor food waste caddy?
Food caddies and recycling bins are free and you can have two of each if needed. Call (01983) 823777 or order online at www.iwight.com/waste
Where is our food waste taken?
It is taken to a food waste anaerobic digester site in Basingstoke. More information is at http://www.biogen.co.uk/
Why is food waste sent to Basingstoke and not dealt with on the Island?
The amount of food waste generated by the Island population does not justify the costs of building a new plant specifically for what is collected.
On the Island, landfill is the only option as we do not have an in-vessel composting or anaerobic digestor that is permitted to take food waste. Food waste that decomposes in landfill releases methane - a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent that carbon dioxide. Transporting the food waste 60 miles to the Basingstoke site means we can capture the gasses from decomposition and turn it into energy, with the leftover composted material becoming a rich agricultural fertiliser.
Transporting the food waste 60 miles to Basingstoke where the gasses from decomposition are captured and turned into energy and the food waste to compost has a far lower emission impact than landfilling and puts an excellent fertiliser back into the food system.
Why don’t we recycle our food waste on the Island?
There are no digester sites on the Island with the correct licence and pre-treatment to take a food waste stream. The amount of food waste collected on the island does not justify building a new plant specifically for what is collected.
Sending the food waste to the AD plant in Basingstoke is a significantly lower cost than sending to landfill on the island and has huge environmental benefits in reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses released to the environment from food rotting in the ground. The gasses from decomposition are collected in the AD plant and used to generate electricity, with the leftover composted material becoming a rich agricultural fertiliser.
Why don’t we convert the Island AD sites to take food waste?
The AD plants on the Island are privately owned and operated. They are not council assets. They have been designed, built and permitted for agricultural feedstock only. It would be up to the individual owners to choose to invest in such technology.
The food waste stream includes raw meat, cooked meat, bones and plastics, thereby requiring bag and plastic packaging removal, screening and reducing to finer 'lumps' prior to being digested with enzymes appropriate to the mix. The AD site in Basingstoke is equipped to deal with this. An agricultural plant has an even known crop feed that is handled differently.
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