Food waste collections:
Research and evidence
Chris Mills
Programme Area ManagerFood Waste Collections
Total estimated UK arisings of food (and
drink) waste is ~15 million tonnes per year






7.2mt
3.2mt
0.6mt
0.4mt
0.1mt
3.0mt
household
food manufacturing (industrial)
hospitality
retail/distribution
schools
other: commercial/agriculture/hospitals
Trends
• Significant rise in food services to
households
• Recent growth in separate collections
• Drivers of LF Tax, targets, service
improvement
• Contribution to National Targets
• Room for further capture
Kitchen caddies – all scheme types
Combined garden/food waste
Kerbside buckets for separate food collection
Food only –
dedicated
Co-collection
Emissions from in vessel composting 1 tonne of food waste
100
0
kg CO2eq emitted
-100
Collection (15
miles)
Transfer to IVC
site (15 miles)
IVC emissions
(diesel &
electric)
IVC composting
avoided
emissions
emissions from
landfill
-200
-300
-400
-500
-600
Life Cycle Stage
Net emissions
Correlation between participation and deprivation
Yield: kg per household per week
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
10
20
30
40
Index of Multiple Deprivation
50
60
70
Weekly food – different refuse frequencies
Fortnightly refuse
Weekly refuse
Average food waste yield: kg/ household served / week
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.2
1.1
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Number of weeks from trial roll-out
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Combined garden and food systems
• Typically lower capture – frequency and
mixing with garden issues
• Frequent waste composition is essential
• Seasonality
• Refuse Collection Vehicle and wheeled bin
collection
• IVC destination
• High additional treatment cost
WRAP cost and operational performance
benchmarks
• Indicative cost and performance data by
rurality grouping
• Industry capex/opex benchmarks
• Gross costs of options
• Net costs
• Round sizes
• Pick rates
Non-participation in food waste
collections
• Importance of frequency
• Single biggest factor is always - “we don’t
produce enough food waste”
• Concerns about hygiene, odour or vermin raised
by non-participants – not participants
• No concern over container numbers
Hospitality & Food Service Agreement
•
Prevention target:
Reduce food and associated packaging waste arising by 5% by the end
of 2015. This would be against a 2012 baseline and be measured by CO2e
emissions
•
Waste management target:
Increase the overall rate of food and packaging waste being recycled,
sent to Anaerobic Digestion or composted to at least 70% by the end of
2015.
• Business benefits (25% of sector achieve targets)
= £76m net savings to business and 570,000 tonnes CO2e saving
But few current SME collections…
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SMEs unwilling to pay extra
Recruitment can be difficult;
price, convenience, space,
contract terms
Very low take up by telesales/
direct mail; need pre-arranged
visits
Refuse charges made by lift not
weight
Recent Work on Business Food
Collections
• Published business case
• Funded commercial collection demonstration
projects
• Development of new web tools and guidance
• New cost calculator for businesses to identify
cost and performance of options
Business benefits
• Significant savings upstream
• Using yield data from collections to inform
stock control
• Savings for larger businesses
• Collaborative procurement opportunities
• New WRAP report on “True Cost of Food
Waste” for businesses
Depackaging
Feedstock supply
Macerators
• Ban in Scotland from 2016
• Defra CBA for HH collections-
on environmental
and financial grounds collection favoured
• WRAP CBA on NHS food options
• ZWS – monitoring on NHS sites
• Concerns raised over sewer impact and
measuring diversion
Web support
WRAP websites across the UK Supporting households,
Authorities and businesses on
food waste management
• Love Food Hate Waste
• Resource Efficient Scotland
• Business Resource Efficiency
Hub
• SME Food Collections
• Local Authority Advisory
support
27
Current Collections Work 2013-14
1. Collections from public sector and food
manufacturers
2. Further research on liners and de-packaging
3. Disseminating work on commercial collections
4. Developing business support tools
5. Interventions to improving performance of
household food waste collections
Considerations in previous landfill
bans or regions setting high targets
Business case and cost of options
Reviewing current performance
Communications for scheme changes
De-packaging infrastructure for
commercial collections
• Treatment contract implications
• Business facing support
• Monitoring and enforcement
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Further Information:
www.wrap.org.uk
WRAP Northern Ireland
The Mount
2 Woodstock Link
Belfast
BT6 8DD
Tel: 028 9073 7290