Less waste collected in Wolverhampton's slop buckets

The amount of food waste collected in slop buckets in Wolverhampton has fallen every single month since they were rolled out to all homes in the city, it was revealed today.

Just 297 tons of slops were collected out of a total of 10,228 tons of waste in June, compared with 410 tons in March. Council chiefs today said they may launch a new publicity campaign to advertise their use.

Figures supplied under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the amount of food waste collected in "kitchen caddies" fell from 410 tons in March to 349 tons in April.

It dropped down to 312 tons in May before reaching a low of 297 tons in June.

The additional cost to the taxpayer of collecting food waste separately to the rest of the rubbish is £946,325, including staffing.

Introducing food waste recycling cost £1 million, funded by the Government, including £100,000 for advertising.

Labour leader Councillor Roger Lawrence said he believed more people were composting food at home, which meant the drop in collections was not a sign that food waste recycling was being rejected.