Council in 'impossible position' over food waste

A Worcestershire council says lack of funding from the government has put it in an "impossible position" over new obligatory food waste collections.

Wyre Forest District Council said it would cost more than £1m a year to collect residents' food waste from the end of March, but there was currently no government grant issued.

Councillor David Ross, deputy leader, said: "We've been put in an impossible position." He added that implementing the scheme without funding would mean other services faced being cut.

However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it expected council's to "take all reasonable steps to meet their statutory obligations".

Councils across England are legally required to start collecting food waste by the end of next month.

Several other councils across Worcestershire have already delayed the implementation of food waste pick-ups, including Worcester and Wychavon, due to funding concerns.

In the Wyre Forest, the Conservative cabinet is due to meet on 11 February where it is expected to follow suit.

"Either we proceed with implementing food waste collections which would mean we have to cut other services that communities value, or we set aside the legal requirement and push the government to provide additional funding to allow us to implement what the legislation requires," Ross said.

Councillor Nathan Desmond, cabinet member for operational services, said the authority supported the principle of the collections, recognising "the environmental benefits they can bring".

"But we cannot commit taxpayers to a service the government has required us to provide, without giving us the money to run it," he explained.

"At a time when our overall spending power is frozen and other vital local services are already under pressure, it would not be responsible to introduce a service costing more than £1m a year without confirmed funding."

Most authorities across England have indicated that they would begin to collect food waste separately in the spring.

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