£50 million grant to collect food waste

Local authorities in Wales are to be given a total of £50 million in grants to help them boost recycling figures.

This is £15 million more than last year, and councils are being told to use the extra money to separate out food waste.

The Sustainable Waste Management Grants are designed to help Welsh local authorities achieve EU landfill diversion targets of 40% by 2010. Currently 33% of waste in Wales is composted or recycled.

Longer term targets are likely to be set this year. The Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, has suggested that she would like to see targets of 70% recycling and composting by 2025.

Swansea Council, Carmarthenshire County Council and Monmouthshire County Council have already started food waste collections. Other local authorities are planning to start later this year, or early in 2009.

In other news, Wales recently came top in a UK beach litter league of shame. Last year, more litter was found on Welsh beaches than in beaches in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The amount of litter on Welsh beaches is the worst it has been for seven years.