Early considerations for food waste collections

Adam Read*, Global Practice Director for Waste Management, and Sarahjane Widdowson**, a Principal Consultant with Ricardo-AEA, reflect on the fundamentals that local authority officers must address when planning, designing and rolling out food waste collection services and some of the key considerations for an Australian application.

Food waste is a growing profile waste stream with more Australian councils implementing garden waste collections, usually without food waste. There are, however, a growing number of local councils throughout Australia that are looking to operate garden waste collections and there are many questions emerging on the efficiencies and issues associated with adding food waste.

With growing attention in some states and a drive for more kerbside solutions to meet recycling targets, reduce carbon emissions and avoid increasing landfill levies, this article focuses on some of the key operational aspects to consider for a successful food waste service and draws from UK experience of implementing food waste collection schemes.

The collection system

Initially, the composition of the food waste must be considered along with the most appropriate collection options (food only or mixed with garden etc). Are you going to collect at the kerb, and what about units and high-density housing developments? Studies by the UK’s Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have found that capture of food waste is greater when it’s collected separately at the kerbside and not commingled within a garden waste collection service. It’s important to consider what will be the most effective approach for your area.

When you have decided who to collect from, this will inform what collection equipment is required - whether it is caddies, liners, bring banks, bins, vehicles etc - and the associated manpower required to service the operation. What vehicles do you need to use? Do you need to change your current collection method to include food waste? Could you use a pod or is a new dedicated vehicle the right option? How will your choice of vehicle affect what facilities are available for tipping?

Currently, many areas across Australia suffer from limited organics treatment infrastructure and much of the existing infrastructure has been established on existing commercial and industrial organic waste streams. You may have a fleet of split-bodied RVCs with a pod, but if the treatment or transfer site you intend to tip at requires rear ejection, you might have to look at purchasing new vehicles or retrofitting current ones to suit, which can be costly.

All of these issues can directly impact on choice of collection frequencies, which may impact householders’ acceptance of a food waste collection service, given the climatic factors associated with the northern states in particular. Indeed, there has been discontent amongst UK and other European householders that the weekly collection of food waste is insufficient to deal with odours and health issues associated with the decomposition of food wastes awaiting collections. However, on the whole, weekly food waste collection is adequate so long as the bins being used are airtight and well managed by the residents.

Bulking and haulage

Will you collect food waste and transport it to a local organic treatment facility (AD or IVC) or will it be over 20 km away? For those local government areas without easy access to directly deliver to a local organic waste treatment facility, the introduction of a food wastes bulking and transfer operation will be a critical aspect of any decision to implement a kerbside food waste collection service. Ricardo-AEA, an international environmental consultancy, has recently developed a new guidance document including a range of case studies on behalf of WRAP. This guidance provides an overview of key considerations for the bulking and haulage of food waste, including costs and indicative pricing, site operations and requirements, and practical tips on implementation.

Food waste being tipped from a pod directly into a covered skip for onward haulage and treatment. Surrey Waste Management (SITA) site in Epsom (note the use of compostable plastic liners).

Bulking of organic loads is likely to be a consideration for many local government areas, with the key things to consider being the distance and time it takes to get to the treatment facility compared to the distance and time saved if bulking; and the associated transport costs and environmental impacts of additional vehicle movements. Partnership opportunities amongst the UK’s local councils to increase the efficiencies of the organics collections systems and reduce costs of the service have been critical to ensuring the sustained rollout of such food waste collection schemes, as have combined residential and business waste collections (two waste streams which were generally collected separately in the UK).

Liners and caddies

Another key consideration is the use of caddy or bin liners for households, with international industry best practice suggesting that they increase customer usage and satisfaction, particularly in warmer climates. However, before committing to them, make sure the intended reprocessing facility accepts them, eg, do they comply with licence acceptance criteria and do they meet the Australian Standard AS 4736-2006 if they are to be sent to composting? Such liners, however, can be costly to both councils and householders with other considerations, such as the durability, which can affect delivery frequency to householders and, in turn, costs. The decision to provide them free of charge to residents and/or businesses or ask residents to purchase them has significant operational and cost impacts.

The WRAP guidelines also include the outcomes of a recent study completed by Ricardo-AEA which investigated the costs and benefits of different options for liner supply as part of a food waste collection service. The study included a model to support local decision making. While this model has been primarily modelled on UK costs and distribution networks, the parameters utilised may be easily applied to Australia’s urban councils.

Key to decision making is the consideration of whole system costs and that liner supply must not be considered in isolation. WRAP studies in the UK have demonstrated that residents like using liners and that higher participation in a food waste collection scheme can be achieved if they are provided free. However, liners can be a significant revenue cost for an authority; but if this is considered against the lower costs of treating food waste rather than non-segregation then savings are apparent.

Castle Point Borough Council, UK.

Scheme rollout

Other areas to address include the rollout (phased or big bang?), the associated communications strategy and how to deal with contamination. Previous UK schemes have seen higher levels of contamination (particularly plastics) where a biopolymer liner is used; without careful communication, the use of compostable and/or biodegradable plastics can lead to consumer confusion with other plastics and degradable plastic products. With all these options available and issues to address, it is important to compare the costs and likely performance of the scenarios using benchmark data from other authorities where it exists and external advice wherever possible. It is also essential to consider the impact on home composting schemes and how the rollout of a household organic waste collection may be communicated with regards to maintaining home composting where it has been previously promoted.

Much is likely to change across Australia over the next few years as authorities progress their garden waste plans initially and the synergies for food waste plans are realised. Getting good advice from those authorities which lead this change and appropriately experienced consultants will increase collection efficiencies and ensure the right communication campaigns and messages go out early to manage household education and reduce contamination rates.

With increasing global concern about carbon emissions, resource recovery and recycling, food waste collections and their successful design, integration and rollout will be a challenge for most Australian authorities in the near future. Learning the lessons now will ensure money is well spent in years to come.

*Dr Adam Read is Global Practice Director for Ricardo-AEA’s Resource Efficiency and Waste Management Practice. He has more than 18 years of operational experience both in the UK and overseas, the last 12 in consultancy. He is recognised as a leading waste management thinker with an extensive portfolio of research papers, conference articles and collaborative investigations both in the UK, US and Europe. He is leading a number of studies for Australian clients.

**Sarahjane Widdowson is a Principal Consultant at Ricardo-AEA specialising in local authority service design, benchmarking, joint working and communications. She has 13 years of sector experience, including the design and rollout of a number of food waste collection schemes, and was formerly a municipal waste management officer responsible for recycling service design and delivery. She has been leading Ricardo-AEA’s work with WRAP on food waste liners and food waste bulking best practice over the last two years.