The Renewable Energy Association (REA) and Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) have released a joint statement promising more action to boost municipal food waste recycling. It follows the publication of a report entitled 鈥楾he Real Economic Benefit of Separate Food 91仓库 Collections鈥� issued by the REA鈥檚 Organics Recycling Group in May, which called for collections of biowaste to be made mandatory across England.
The report initially received a stern response from LARAC, with association chair Andrew Bird describing the document as 鈥渟elf-serving鈥� and not reflecting the actual savings could be realised by enforcing the rounds.
But, the two industry bodies now appear to have reconciled after REA technical director Jeremy Jacobs last week said that councils had 鈥渞isen to the challenges鈥� set to them by budget cuts from central government and had done 鈥渁n extraordinary job protecting public services鈥�.
In a joint statement issued today (8 June), Mr Jacobs added: 鈥淚ncreasing the volume of food waste that is collected separately is critical to meet our legally binding recycling target of 50% by 2020. There is an urgent need for new policy; collaboration and consensus are the strongest tools we have available to achieve it. 鈥淭he renewables industry is sensitive to the tight budgetary constraints that most local authorities face and we are open to working with them to deliver workable solutions and innovative funding models.鈥�
Mr Bird stated that he looked forward to working with the REA and government to find solutions to the UK鈥檚 recycling needs.
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