From Herefordshire Council:
Herefordshire Council could be the first local authority in the country to have food waste collected by bike if proposed plans are agreed by cabinet members.
The innovative proposal is set out in a cabinet report on the next steps for the introduction of the new recycling and waste collection service.
The recommendations will be discussed at the cabinet meeting on 21 July.
Cargo bikes pushing ahead
A cargo bike food waste collection is planned for central Hereford. The zero-carbon approach would see kitchen scraps turned into compost. While the environmentally-friendly step would be a first for a UK council, a BBC report shows food collection by bike is already underway in Paris. Meanwhile, online retailer Amazon is reported to be launching a fleet of e-cargo bikes to replace thousands of van deliveries in London.
New waste collections mandatory
We are working towards introducing a new waste and recycling collection service across the county that includes a weekly food collection and fortnightly garden waste collection service, which councils must introduce as part of new government legislation.
The new enhanced service will provide much more recycling capacity and will improve both the quantity and quality of recycling. Residents will keep the bins they already have for general waste and recycling. The one-off cost of additional bins needed to separate different types of waste will be offset by savings made every subsequent year in reduced disposal costs.
The move follows recommendations approved by the council on 25 November 2021:
- The council supports residents to increase recycling by adopting the new waste collection model as outlined in this report with a view to being fully operational in November 2023. This includes:
a. The introduction of a new two weekly garden waste collection service
b. The introduction of a new weekly food collection service
c. The adoption of a twin stream recycling service to enable residents to further segregate recyclable materials and
d. To adopt a three weekly residual collection model
Getting it right
Residents are being encouraged and supported to make good choices to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ through our ‘Getting it right’ campaign. This encourages people to put the right items into the right bins. Reducing contamination (putting the wrong things into the wrong bins) will improve recycling rates.
Other waste reduction measures include the incredibly successful reusable nappy scheme, which is helping residents with young families reduce nappy waste. Its popularity meant the scheme had to end just 30 days after its April launch date. We also recently announced funding grants for setting up or extending existing repair cafes to discourage people from throwing away repairable household items.
