Food needlessly being thrown away by Warwickshire residents, council claims

Paper, card, plastics and glass were among the items found in the bins but councillors at this week’s Warwickshire Waste Partnership meeting were told that the biggest problem was with people 'binning' food waste.

In the survey which was carried out across the entire county over three weeks in September, a third of the contents was found to be food which could have been recycled by using the green organic waste bins available free in most districts - Rugby Borough Council residents pay an annual charge if they want to be part of the scheme.

Figures revealed that around 17,000 tonnes of food waste is not being recycled each year and members of the meeting, which was made up of councillors and officers from the five boroughs and districts in Warwickshire, agreed to look at launching a campaign to remind residents that food including meat, fish and plate scrapings can be put into the organic green bin.

Cllr Jenny Fradgley (Lib Dem Stratford West) said: “I think there is an element of education needed to let more people know what they can do. Maybe go through schools because kids are fantastic at telling their parents what to do.”

But there was a warning from the county’s waste management and partnership group manager Andrew Pau who said: “We have tried for years with education campaigns - we have had award-winning campaigns - and yet we are still in this position.”

Another suggestion mentioned was reducing the size of the black bin which would force residents into thinking about recycling more of its contents.