Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on ensuring value for money in contracts for the treatment of separately collected household food waste, including where private contractors receive revenue from biomethane and digestate produced from that waste.

Defra does not provide direct guidance to local authorities for the procurement of food waste treatment contracts.

However, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), funded by Defra have provided guidance for local authorities to support the implementation of Simpler Recycling. This includes Good Practice Guidance on Waste and Recycling Collections, including on building in contract flexibility, and more detailed guidance on providing household food waste collections, which also covers food waste treatment.

Furthermore, Local Partnerships has developed a standard Anaerobic Digestion contract, developed with Defra support, and available free on request to local authorities, which includes provisions for revenue sharing.