Memorandum submitted by the Association
of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (Waste 20)
FOOD WASTE DISPOSERS: ONE SOLUTION TO LANDFILL
WHICH HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED
Around 20% of household solid waste is kitchen
food waste—approximately 40 million tons a year. The vast
majority of it is collected by hand and transported in large lorries
to landfill sites, incinerators or industrial composters. A small
percentage of vegetable food waste—separated out from meat,
fish and dairy waste—is composted by the householder.
Yet there is a product on the market which can remove
all household food waste from the solid waste management stream
to enable it to be recycled to the land, providing a cheap additional
source of energy whilst reducing energy use and pollution in the
refuse management process. It reduces municipal waste management
costs by around £20 per household per annum. And it removes
the need to separate and store food waste, avoiding complaints
about odours, vermin etc—and the controversy over alternate
week collections which flares up in summer months.
The Food Waste Disposer [FWD], fitted into the
drain line under the sink, grinds waste into smaller particles
which are flushed into the wastewater system using cold water.
When treated by anaerobic digestion, this waste produces the equivalent
of 85kWh of biogas per household per annum [compared to a FWD's
annual consumption of about 4kWh] and the digestate [sewage sludge]
can be used on the land to feed soil and offset the need for manufactured
fertiliser.
Buying and installing a FWD costs around £120
upwards, running costs for electricity and water are negligible—perhaps
£7 a year—and this durable product has a life of between
10 and 15 years. It is a permanent solution, for FWDs are not
removed when the householder moves. And it requires no major change
in behaviour by the consumer—waste is just put down the
sink rather than into a bin.
FWDs are just one of the solutions to the UK's
huge landfill problem, although one that has largely been overlooked
up to now, not least in Defra's latest Waste Strategy, which offers
only garden composting as a contribution which can be made by
householders. That solution is ideal where it can be adopted;
it can remove much if not all food from the waste stream. But
not all consumers can be persuaded to co-operate—and perhaps
those who currently do are the "low hanging fruit" of
this solution. Others either just don't want to or do not have
room to—flat-dwellers and others living in inner cities,
for instance. And composting is not a solution for meat, fish
or dairy waste.
Until comparatively recently, there was widespread
scepticism about FWDs among environmental authorities—there
were concerns about deposition in the sewerage system and encouraging
vermin. Research and monitoring of actual use of FWDs have gradually
removed these worries. As a result, an increasing number of governments
and local authorities here and elsewhere are embracing FWDs as
a major contribution to solving waste disposal problems.
Worcestershire and Herefordshire County Councils
encourage householders to fit FWDs by offering cashbacks of up
to £80 [they calculate "payback" time is just over
3 years]. For instance, in Italy federal law endorses FWD as an
option; in Sweden, four towns reduce waste taxes for homes with
a FWD; and in Norway, four local authorities subsidise FWDs.
Two of the main elements identified in "Waste
Strategy for England 2007" are diversion from landfill and
incentivising recycling and energy recovery. The FWD is an ideal
product to achieve all three objectives. Because it can create
more energy than it uses, it is carbon-positive. It is a solution
with no capital cost to the waste management authority: discounts
come out of current expenditure and are balanced by savings within
four years and private developers are increasingly fitting them
as standard in new apartment blocks.
Penetration in the UK of FWDs is currently around
6% of households. Studies in Europe indicate that wastewater treatment
plants only incur noticeable increased costs when local penetration
hits about 30%. These costs seem to vary from less than £1
a year to around £8. The savings achieved by the waste management
activity are more than enough to cover such sums—and Ofwat
has indicated that, in principle, it has no objection to the financing
of water companies' additional costs in this way.
Tim Evans Environment undertook an independent
environmental impact study for Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire
County Council (H&W) funded by the County Surveyors' Society's
Research Fund. It was published in April 2007. This found that
based on audited figures from H&W, each FWD would save on
average 180 kg food waste per year and £18.63 per year. The
cost transfer to the local water companies would be £0.68
per FWD per year for their methods of wastewater and sludge management.
It also found that the Global Warming Potential effect (carbon
footprint) was far more favourable than kerbside collection and
landfill or centralised composting.
Douglas Herbison
Chief Executive
The Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances
October 2007
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