Cromwell Polythene has secured an important contract to supply compostable kitchen caddy liners to all 97 schools in Caerphilly County Borough Council (Caerphilly), in the heart of South Wales.
The contract requires the Leeds based plastic bags supplier to deliver 1,000 liners to each school in Caerphilly, where they will be used as part of the council’s award-winning food waste recycling scheme. The 25-litre compostable bags are made from Ecopond® biodegradable resin, for which Cromwell Polythene is sole distributor among local authorities and the waste management sector in the UK.
Food waste recycling is a key part of Caerphilly’s ‘Sustainable Development’ strategy and represents a unique partnership between the council’s environmental and catering departments. Between them these two services have developed a range of initiatives, from using improved efficiency catering equipment that saves energy, water and cost, to a sustainable school meals service that provides environmental, economic and educational benefits.
As part of the schools programme a local theatrical group delivered fun learning presentations to school pupils across the authority, encouraging them to eat a healthy diet, showing how this can also reduce the impact on the environment. This was complemented by the introduction of a food waste and dry recycling programme across all Caerphilly’s education sites, corporate buildings and sheltered housing. The scheme has been so successful that it has reduced the cost of food waste disposal in the catering outlets by more than 50 percent.
Introduction of the scheme also enabled schools to compost some of the kitchen waste, including fruit waste from the fruit tuck shop. “By raising awareness in schools we provide an education for children who can do their bit for the environment at school and take these habits home to share with their families and continue for the rest of their lives,” says Marcia Lewis, Caerphilly’s principal catering officer.
“The Cromwell caddy liners have played a key role in Caerphilly’s food waste recycling programme, helping us recover food that would otherwise go to landfill,” she adds.
