Borough has an appetite for food waste collections

Composting in action: the in-vessel composting facility where food waste is turned into compost

The recycling rate in January jumped to a high of 49% and people are separating their food waste for composting.

During January last year, only 31% of waste was recycled – one of the lowest recycling rates in Greater Manchester.

Since the new waste collection service started the borough’s recycling rate has increased by 18 per cent.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Rochdale Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “I know that it has been a big change but this latest recycling rate of 49% shows how the new service can make a real difference to our historically low recycling rates and help us to reduce the massive waste disposal costs that we are currently faced with.

“An analysis of disposal costs at the end of December 2015 indicates that the new service has reduced disposal cost by £303,000. Projections on current performance, suggest that the council is on track to save a total of half a million by the end of the financial year. This is in line with the projected £1 million saving for the service over a 12-month period.”

Using the weekly food waste service, households can recycle all cooked and uncooked food, including leftovers. This means food waste like meat, fish, bones and vegetable peelings can now all be recycled instead of going in general rubbish bins. This will help reduce smells from the rubbish bin and create more space for the things residents cannot yet recycle.

All food and garden waste collected is taken to an in-vessel composting facility on Chichester Street, Rochdale. There it is processed and turned into a quality soil enricher and compost for use in horticulture and agriculture.

With food making up a third of the waste in the rubbish bin by weight, collecting food waste on a weekly basis will help the council meet its annual recycling target of 45 per cent by March 2017.