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Campaign success: household food waste collections from
2009
New proposals for the management of Oxfordshire's household waste were
disclosed for the first time on Monday 4 September 2006 when the
Environment Scrutiny Committee of Oxford City Council met to review the
proposed Oxfordshire Joint Municipal Waste Strategy. The document
suggests similar collection arrangements for waste and recycling,
including a fortnightly collection of refuse, throughout the
five districts in the County. Oxford Friends of the Earth welcomed
improvements for recycling services, including the collection of food
waste for municipal composting, but said targets for waste reduction
and recycling were inadequate, and that the strategy left the door open
to burning Oxfordshire's waste in a polluting incinerator.
The results of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnerships public consultation
'No Time to Waste', held this summer, were contained in the Council
Agenda documents. These show that 'a significant proportion of
respondents' are
against incineration.
The proposed waste strategy set targets for waste reduction – which is
to maintain the current levels of waste produced from 2012 (policy 5)
i.e. no growth, and to increase recycling to 40% of household waste
recycled or composted by 2010; 45% by 2015; and 55% by 2020. The core
strategy of the proposals will be reviewed in 2010. The strategy makes
no recommendation for how to treat Oxfordshire's residual waste i.e.
that not recycled, but leaves the decision to the County Council.
Andrew Wood of Oxford Friends of the Earth said: "We welcome proposed
improvements to recycling and composting services but we need to aspire
to zero waste, and cut the current high levels of waste rather simply
maintain the present levels. The proposed recycling targets are far
below the present day levels of best practice by our continental
European neighbors –we can do better."
He added: "The waste strategy should rule out burning waste in an
incinerator –which is the most polluting waste treatment as far as
climate change is concerned. Building an incinerator would mean about 3
million tonnes of discarded resources, or rubbish, would be burnt in
the first 20 years of operation. Higher rates of waste reduction,
recycling and composting, together with local small scale mechanical
biological treatment would be a better use of our resources."
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