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Is Leeds set for slop buckets? COMMENT ON THIS STORY
Every home in Leeds should have a kitchen slop bucket to collect food scraps for generating renewable energy, Leeds MP and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said today.
The Leeds Central MP called on Leeds Council to collect food waste separately and then send the leftovers to small renewable power plants.
Under his proposals, food waste would be stored in secure containers and collected weekly but instead of heading to landfill it would be sent to anaerobic digestion plants, which produce renewable energy from broken down organic waste.
Mr Benn's blueprint could only be implemented once the city's bitter bin strike is settled.
However, it could risk sparking further industrial unrest as it is likely to lead to other refuse being collected once a fortnight.
Town Hall spending watchdog the Audit Commission estimates that weekly food recycling schemes could save councils the equivalent of 9 per household.
This would be because fewer bin men and collecting trucks would be required and landfill costs would be much lower.
Mr Benn said separate food recycling is working well in the 30 councils which have introduced it so far.
He told the YEP: "I would like to see food waste being collected in Leeds because you can generate energy out of it through anaerobic digestion.
"We have got about 30 councils up and down the country who are doing that. Instead of putting it in landfill, where it generates greenhouse gases, you can put it into an anaerobic digester.
"You talk to people who have got that and it works pretty well.
"Often you have got a little green container with a handle that locks down, so you don't get foxes or other animals breaking into your rubbish bag or into the bins."
Mr Benn plans to launch a consultation in the New Year, which will focus on how food waste, aluminium, wood and biomass can all be recycled or used for energy instead of dumped in landfill.
He is particularly keen to collect more aluminium, which currently can earn councils 500 per tonne.
He said the escalator levy on landfill will force councils to think more creatively. The landfill tax rose by 8 per tonne to 40 per tonne in April and will continue to soar each year.
He said Leeds Council should be doing more, adding: "I come across constituents who have found it difficult to get recycled waste collected from where they live."
But he insisted it was up to local councils to decide the best way to recycle waste in their area.
"It's for Leeds in the end to take its decision based on what it thinks the right technology is and then to explain to people what the choices are," he said.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
