New building to process food waste planned in Lowestoft

It comes as the government plans to force local councils to collect recyclable waste every week

The entrance to the site, within the South Lowestoft Industrial Estate
Author: Joao Santos, Local Democracy Reporting ServicePublished 14th Nov 2023

Plans are in for a new food waste transfer building in Lowestoft to aid in bin legislation changes.

The new building, proposed by FCC Environment (UK) Ltd. will be built on the existing recycling centre and waste transfer station, located off Hadenham Road, within the South Lowestoft Industrial Estate.

Its construction is meant to address new Government legislation which mandates recyclable waste (including food) from all households, businesses and organisations must be collected separately from other waste at least once a week.

Among other measures, the new legislation was announced in a bid to end the bin ‘postcode lottery’.

Currently, the existing facilities filter through 57,000 tonnes of waste material every year, of which 5,000 are food waste, just over a third of what they are permitted to.

However, this does not mean additional waste would come to the site. Instead, the proposal is solely to keep in line with the new legislation, while still allowing ‘for general growth’.

Although the existing recycling centre is open to the public throughout the week, the new facility will only be used privately to enable the collection of food waste.

The new building is also proposed alongside the removal of cladding from the existing building due to ‘an existing vermin issue at the site’.

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