Funding in place to start food waste collections in Bedford

But it’s still looking for the best options for both the collection vehicles and the right place to send the waste.

Paul Pace, the council’s head of environment, told Monday’s Climate Change Committee (June 24) that the council has £1.5 million in the bank to roll out food waste collections.

“We’ve got a really good [grant] more than we initially thought we’re going to get,” he said. “And certainly a lot more than some of the other councils.

“We are concentrating on the commercial side because we need to get that up 12 months before the deadline for the domestic side. We’ve been going to various different shows … to look at the types of vehicles we can potentially use. We’ve had quite a few demos of different types of vehicles recently trying to work out [which ones are suitable].

“Hopefully once we get some figures crunched and get the report to council and Executive to look at placing an order for the domestic food waste vehicles. We’re told at the moment there’s anything between a nine and 12 month’s delay in getting these vehicles from the date of order,” he said.

Mr Pace added that there are similar demands for the containers too.

“There’s a contract that should go out in the next week or two to secure food waste treatment for the borough,” he said. “Because there’s no point in collecting it if we can’t take it somewhere to be treated.

“Obviously we want to make sure wherever we take it, that the food waste is going to be put to a good cause, generating energy and also composting. We’ll have that secured ready to start as soon as we can get to the approval and we get the vehicles within our depot.

“We will start that food waste trial as soon as we possibly can,” he said.