EVERY household on Wirral will be given a new bin and free bin bags in a year as authorities prepare to bring in weekly food waste collections.
The change is being brought in across England following a law passed under the previous Conservative government in 2021 with the aim of improving recycling rates.
Councils across England will have to start recycling food waste by law from April 2026 and Wirral Council is reportedly ahead of the curve when it comes to preparing for the new changes.
At an environment, climate emergency, and transport meeting in Wirral, councillors unanimously approved varying the local authority’s contract with Biffa Waste Services to take into account the changes.
The new service was praised for how it would increase levels of recycling though some concerns were raised about potential pest issues.
The plan is for every household in Wirral to be given smaller bins, called a caddy, to keep food waste secure until it can be collected. However people can choose if they want to recycle their food waste.
Collection vehicles will be purchased to do the bin rounds which will run separate from recycling and rubbish collections. Food waste collections will also take place every week and an additional £700,000 has been given to the council by the now Labour UK government to help with any further set up costs.
The new service is expected to cost £4.5m across the Liverpool City Region for these new bins and lorries.
In Wirral, £2.4m is being provided by the government to get the service going but the service is expected to cost an initial £3.3m with £3m for the following year while possible borrowing over eight years to cover extra costs would cost £160,000 if needed.
St Helens Council is the only local authority area to currently collect food waste but the six councils across the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority are working together to prepare for the change with the Merseyside Recycling Waste Authority (MRWA). As a result of the changes, all six councils are jointly buying the food waste bins, caddies and vehicles needed.
As well as reducing the amount of waste going to landfill, food waste recycling can have other benefits too. The energy created from processing the waste can be used to power homes.
During the meeting, concerns were raised by West Kirby councillor Jenny Johnson about the risk of vermin after hearing concerns about maggots, rats, and foxes.
In response officers said the new bins would be lockable and the council will ask for food to be bagged while the committee chair Cllr Liz Grey assured the issue was talked about at length cross-party.
Despite funding being given to the council to support the new service, it won't cover all of the costs required to provide the new service with councils finding out at the end of March how much they are getting. Calls were made by Cllr Gail Jenkinson to write to the government over the issue but this was rejected by other councillors.
Cllr Allan Brame said it was a good job the authority was getting ready to do it arguing food recycling had been a proven success elsewhere in the council but he had concerns about the cost, adding: "We have got to do this. We should be doing this but it’s going to cost us."
However Labour councillors also criticised what they said was past scare mongering over the issue. Cllr Steve Foulkes said councillors had undermined a past effort to introduce food recycling, adding: “If we can work together as all parties, we can deliver this and take the public with us."
