A council is going to microchip bins to monitor the amount of food waste being thrown away

A council is set to microchip bins to check on the amount of food waste being thrown away.

In the first trial of its type in the UK the high-tech electronic system will provide data on how much waste householders put in their orange “caddies” each week and whether the caddies are contaminated.

It will take place in parts of Denbighshire, North Wales Live are reporting.

The aim is to increase the amount of food waste being recycled to enable the county council to meet its statutory target of 64% this year.

Denbighshire council are going to microchip food bins (Daily Post Wales)

The initiative, to be launched on November 11, will involve four areas in parts of Corwen, Ruthin, Rhyl and Prestatyn, each with up to 200 households.

“The areas have been identified by our waste collection teams because fewer houses there are recycling food than in the surrounding areas,” said Tara Dumas, the authority’s waste and recycling manager.

All the households involved will be notified a week before the trial starts and will be asked to present their caddy for it to be microchipped and registered to their property.

“The microchips will automatically provide us with data telling us who is regularly recycling,” said Miss Dumas.

The crews will wear chip readers able to report information about individual caddies.  

“If the caddy is contaminated we can record this and send information to the household to reinforce what we can and cannot accept.”

The trial, which will last six months, followed an approach by the German firm of bin suppliers Schaefer which has developed and provided the software.

The authority is carrying out similar campaigns in other areas involving manual data collection and comparisons will then be made to determine whether the microchip method is more efficient.

Householders will have a chance to comment on the system and can opt out if they wish.

In 2010 Denbighshire Council came under fire for providing some new bins with microchips installed, but the authority said they would not be used without consultation and that it was simply cheaper to buy them like that.

In the past the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch has criticised plans by some authorities to microchip bins, calling it an intrusion into people’s lives.

Miss Dumas said there was no intention to introduce a “pay-as-you-throw” scheme in Denbighshire as part of major changes to waste operating systems over the next two years.