CONCERNS have been raised over a Government proposal to make councils run separate weekly household food waste collections by 2023.

In a report examining the Government’s ambitions “to leave the environment in a better condition for the next generation”, North Yorkshire County Council officers said food waste collections would damage the impact of the authority’s waste prevention campaigns, based on successfully reducing food waste and increasing home composting.

Officers said separate food waste collections would prove a costly option for largely rural North Yorkshire and food waste collected with the residual waste and treated at the Allerton Waste Recovery Park did not require separate collections.

Some 51 per cent of waste collection authorities in England collect food waste separately from residual waste.

Out of this, 35 per cent collect this separately on a weekly basis, 12 per cent collect food waste mixed with garden waste, and four per cent operate both systems.

After the plans were announced in February, City of York Council leaders welcomed the proposals for food waste to be collected weekly and for every household to be able to recycle the same rubbish.

But York council leader Ian Gillies said local authorities would need extra funding to pay for the service.

Under the plans the colours of bins could also be standardised.