Council waste collections defended

Experts in the field of council recycling have rejected recent reports recommending changes to the way waste is collected.

A recent report by the Renewable Energy Association recommended that mandatory food waste collections in England was 'self serving’, claiming it failed to reflect the real savings that could be made.

However, The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) has instead stated that ‘greater industry wide collaboration and more engagement with local authorities’, defending council waste collection and deeming the reports as having ‘no engagement with local authorities themselves’.

Andrew Bird, chair of LARAC, said: “Local authorities have risen to the challenge of making services more efficient in these hard times, whether delivered directly or through outsourcing.

“To suggest that they are not or to call for a fundamental change in how local authorities operate without engaging with us first to see how it could work and what the challenges and possible consequences are is disappointing and a missed opportunity.”