Food waste collections to start six months late

Two Hampshire councils have said they will be six months late for a government deadline to start weekly collections of food waste.

Gosport and East Hampshire said they had struggled to procure extra waste lorries in time for 31 March.

Councils covering Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) and the New Forest will also just miss the date, according to a BBC investigation.

The deadline was set in October 2023, according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

In 2024, the government announced extra funding to meet the target, including £892,846 for Gosport and £1,693,647 for East Hampshire.

The two authorities said the service would start in October.

Councillor Julie Westerby, who chairs Gosport's community waste board, said the delay was "unavoidable" due to "supply and demand pressures on food waste vehicle manufacturing".

East Hampshire blamed several factors, including "waiting for money to be provided by central government to support the launch; a robust vehicle procurement process to ensure value for money for our residents; the need to secure additional depot space for the seven new vehicles; the several months it takes to put together a fleet of specialist vehicles".

BCP councillor Andy Hadley said the national target had made authorities "rush" to procure bin lorries and kitchen caddies in time.

Food waste collections, which have already started in Christchurch and most of Bournemouth, will be introduced in Poole from 6 April, he said.

The rollout of new wheelie bins and food waste caddies in parts of the New Forest has been paused, after free roaming livestock including donkeys and ponies were seen eating from them and knocking them over.

The authority said it would start weekly collections on 1 May.

The government initiative is designed to reduce the amount of food going to landfill, where it releases harmful greenhouse gases.

The waste can be reprocessed to create fertiliser and biogas, which can be used to generate electricity.

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