Council set to 'bin' third food waste caddy liner delivery

RESIDENTS in Mid and East Antrim could be set to see a reduction in the number of food caddy liners they receive annually, as council seek to make almost £50,000 of savings in this area.

A report presented to members at last week's Environment and Economy committee meeting detailed that a budget of £172,500 has already been allocated for the delivery of liners but officers wish to review the delivery model to reduce expenditure given the current financial climate.

Currently, householders in the borough receive 150 liners free of charge each year.

A roll of compostable caddy liners for a two litre bin contains 50 bags and these are delivered three times a year in April, July and October to every domestic property which has their black or brown bin presented for collection.

It is estimated that the allowance averages 2.9 liners per week per household, however, it is believed that each household uses one liner per week.

If additional liners are needed they can be purchased from council at a cost of £1.30 although compostable liners are not required to dispose of food in brown bins.

A report presented to council highlighted that the cost of processing food waste through the residual bins is £119.51 per tonne, whereas the cost of processing it through the organic bin waste stream is £71.92 per tonne.

The report continued that caddy liners are usually delivered on one black bin collection week and two brown bin collection weeks, at an estimated cost of £164,220 per annum for liner costs only.

Three options were brought before council members for consideration.

Option 1 suggested that if all three delivery dates were on a brown bin collection date it would reduce the cost of collections by 9% to approximately £149,940.

Option 2 suggested that deliveries be reduced to twice annually on brown bin collection dates. This would potentially reduce the approximate annual spend by 39% to £99,960.

Option 3, which is council officers' preferred option, suggested that deliveries are carried out twice annually on one black bin collection date and one brown bin collection date.

This delivery model assumes an approximate 90% presentation on black bin week and 70% presentation on brown bin week and will ensure that more households receive at least one roll of liners during the initial delivery.

This would, according to the report, give households participating in both deliveries an average of 1.9 liners per week.

The anticipated cost of this delivery model is £114,240 which would save council around £49,980 per annum.

TUV Councillor Timothy Gaston said he would consider any reduction to be “counter-productive”.

He cautioned that householders could place food in black bins if they have no liners and said: “Any reduction is a move from front line service. I think we should stick to what we are doing at the minute".

DUP Alderman Billy Ashe MBE said: “The more people who participate in this scheme, the more savings we make on tonnage going to landfill. It is in our interests to get 100 per cent of people using them.”

However, he added he was “shocked” at the cost of delivery and suggested distributing three rolls at once. “It is in our interests to get people to participate in the scheme. Rather than looking at the expense, we need to look at the overall outcome.”

Alliance Cllr Aaron Skinner commented: “Here is a report to save £50k. It is a no brainer. The average household uses one per week. It would be ludicrous to do anything else.”

Party colleague Larne Lough Ald Robert Logan remarked: “You always have more bags than you need.”

The decision has been deferred to a later meeting.