As part of our overall environmental ambitions I am keen to see a separate food waste collection as part of our regular waste collection an ambition which I know is shared by many constituents.
Food waste has an environmental impact with millions of tonnes of food going to waste every year with food waste accounting for 19% of the UK’s landfill. This is despite the efforts of many charities – including those we are lucky to have locally, such as FareShare Sussex and the Horsham Community Fridge who do excellent work in redistributing surplus food that is still in date.
Locally, of the rubbish collected by Horsham District Council 41.5% is made up of food waste. In the Autumn of 2021, Horsham District undertook a three month food waste collection trial with 100 households across the District participating. Trial participants recycled 2,657kg of food waste in the 12 weeks. Collected food was taken to an Anaerobic Digester which was broken down and turned into bio fertiliser for use on land and biogas.
The Government has committed, through the Environment Bill, to roll out separate household food waste collection across the country.
