- Tories reject Mayor’s offer of a free service review
- Labour vote against suspension
Barnet’s Conservative councillors forced through a ‘suspension’ of separate food waste collections at last week’s Environment Committee (13 Sep). The suspension will start on 4 November.
The Tories also rejected an offer by the Mayor of London to pay for an independent review of Barnet’s waste collection service to find a way to retain the food waste service. They reluctantly agreed to work with the Mayor, partners and existing service users to develop a waste reduction and re-cycling plan, although Labour councillors believe this will not include separate food waste collections in the future.
Labour councillors voted against the ‘suspension’ after the Tories refused to set a date to reintroduce the food waste collection, or set-out any communications or engagement plan with residents about the suspension.
The Mayor wrote to Barnet Council over the summer to advise them they would not be in general conformity with the London Environment Strategy if they scrapped the food waste service. The Mayor’s most recent letter emphasises that disposal of food waste through anaerobic digestion is better for the environment than incineration – anaerobic digestion requires separate collections.
Council officers admitted in June that the changes to food and green waste collection services would reduce the recycling rate by 2%. Barnet Council is currently nowhere near meeting their recycling target of 50% by 2020 – the current recycling rate is 37%.
Labour councillors also believe the £300,000 the Tories claim they would save by scrapping food waste collections will be wiped out by much higher fees to incinerate the waste. The Council had also obtained legal advice on the issue which reduces the putative saving further.
When the food waste collection was introduced, the Council’s own publicity said: “Disposing of food waste in your refuse bin is costly and damaging to the environment as it produces harmful gases, which contribute to climate change. By separating your food waste and not putting it in your refuse bin, we can reduce refuse disposal costs and minimise Barnet’s impact on the environment.”
Labour’s Environment spokesperson, Cllr Alan Schneiderman said: “The Tory decision to suspend the separate collection of food waste and simply incinerate it along with general waste is worse for the environment and increases disposal costs. Although they are calling it a ‘suspension’, it’s clear that they have no intention of reinstating separate collections. Rather than threatening legal action, the Tories should keep the separate food waste collection and accept the Mayor of London’s offer to carry out a fully funded review of the service.”
