Rachael Maskell, the shadow environment secretary, has called for legislation to force councils to collect food waste.
In an exclusive interview with the Independent, Maskell said the Government’s patchy policy on waste did little to tackle the UK’s poor relationship with food.
“I think councils should collect food waste,” Maskell said. “I think we need a sustained policy around the country. We have a hit and miss policy at the moment, there’s no consistent line on it from the Government.”
Maskell called for more councils to provide and collect brown bins for food waste.
Less than half of UK councils collect food waste. In London 18 boroughs out of 33 provide the service.
The average family throws away close to £700 of food waste a year. Disposing of food costs London waste authorities £50 million and generates 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Councils could save up to £50 per tonne by sending food waste to anaerobic digestion plants, where it is turned into renewable energy and fertiliser, than by sending to landfill, according to some estimates.
Maskell’s comments come after Thérèse Coffey, resources minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, advocated a voluntary approach.
Dr Coffey has that Defra’s post-Brexit policy would be about “outcomes” rather than being “prescriptive”.
The EU has proposed a recycling target of 60 per cent of all waste by 2030, but it is unclear whether the UK will have to follow these rules if it leaves the EU.
Maskell said that the UK needed to do everything possible to divert food waste from landfill, including legislation to address the issue when voluntary measures don’t work.
She said that the UK’s 14 million obese people were victims of the Government’s incomplete food policy.
“We have a poor relationship with food as a nation, we know as a country we’re overpurchasing food and overeating,” Maskell said.
“We have to look at the whole issue around education around food, how we can conserve it better, so we are reducing food waste but also looking at what we’re putting on our plate.”
