Lib Dems Say: Food Waste Caddy Trial Was A Waste Of Money

10.47.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 17th Jun 2009

Uttlesford District Council's Environment Committee has voted against scrapping the brown wheelie bins across the whole district, as the recent caddy trial was not successful. The trial - which has cost taxpayers £23,000 - was conducted because the Conservatives thought that the brown wheelie bins for food waste, introduced by the Liberal Democrats when they ran the Council, were too big.

Cllr Catherine Dean, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, said "The Conservatives' claim that the caddies would take less time to collect and so save money was unfounded, as the round was taking longer. Also, when the caddies were full, the kitchen waste was being put in the black bins, which goes to landfill. There was also a health and safety issue for the collection crews.

"I am pleased that some of the caddies will be redeployed to flats and other properties which cannot presently participate in the food waste scheme, but I am not at all surprised that the caddy scheme was a failure."

Cllr Peter Wilcock, Liberal Democrat Group Leader added, "We raised concerns that the Conservatives were spending money on trying to change a system which worked perfectly well, and that they would have to scrap the brown bins which had only recently been introduced. In fact, most councils are introducing a three bin recycling system, so why were the Conservatives trying to change ours when it is working extremely well, and has put this area in the top 6 Councils in the country for recycling? If the Conservatives had listened to the Lib Dems, thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money could have been spent on something more useful."

The three-wheelie bin recycling scheme was introduced by the Liberal Democrats when they ran the District Council in 2006. Nineteen out of twenty people in Uttlesford back the three-wheelie bin scheme according to a recent survey by the Lib Dems of several thousand residents.