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Waste Campaign |
| News |
Oxford City Councillors visit innovative food waste composting facility
 West London
Composting's facility
can process 40,000 tonnes of organic waste each year
including food, garden and cardboard waste. It takes waste
from
the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent, and Hertfordshire
County
Council. In 8-10 weeks, waste is turned
into a soil conditioner or fertiliser that can be used in agriculture
and
horticulture. In-vessel composting is the only method accepted by the
government as safe for composting food and catering waste. The organic
waste is
initially kept in eight 150 tonne sealed vessels (barrier one) for 7-10
days,
reaching the required 60ºC Councillor John Tanner commented: "Oxford Friends of the Earth has shown me a real opportunity to recycle kitchen waste, including meat scraps. In-vessel composting is I'm sure the future for Oxford and much better than schemes which end up incinerating waste."  Councillor
Craig Simmons said: “Composting food and
garden waste is a way of turning it into an asset not a liability. The
County
seems content to put all our refuse in a big incinerator - now that
really is a
waste!”Andrew Wood, from Oxford Friends of the Earth, said: “Composting food waste using in-vessel composting is one of the ways in which we could reach high recycling rates of 75% by 2015. For the remaining 25% or more of mixed waste then there are technologies like Mechnanical Biological Treatment which don't produce the toxic pollution or climate change from incineration”
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Oxford
City Councillor John Tanner, Executive member for Environment, and
Craig
Simmons, a City and County Councillor visited part of the solution to
Oxfordshire's waste problem on Friday 21 January 2006. The visit,
arranged
by Oxford Friends of the Earth, to West London Composting near
Harefield in
Middlesex showed how 'in-vessel' composting was being used to safely
compost
organic waste including food and garden waste to produce a fertiliser
for
agriculture.