Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1954

9 Collection of kitchen waste etc. for animal feeding stuffs in England and Wales

(1) A local authority in England or Wales may, whether in the discharge of their functions as to the removal of house or trade refuse or otherwise, collect kitchen or other waste in their area for use as animal feeding stuffs, with or without processing.

(2) An authority collecting waste under this section may agree to pay for waste saved for collection -by them, may process the waste they collect, and may sell it processed or unprocessed; and, if they process it, they may acquire other materials for processing with it, including kitchen or other waste collected by any other local authority or person.

(3) Without prejudice to any other power of combination, any two or more local authorities may by agreement combine for the purpose of collecting waste under this section or processing waste so collected; and a local authority collecting waste under this section in their area may, with the agreement of any other local authority, do it also in the area of that other authority.

(4) A local authority collecting waste under this section may provide receptacles in which the waste may be deposited for collection, and may place any receptacles so provided in any street or public place.

(5) If a person wilfully deposits in any receptacle provided under the last foregoing subsection, or otherwise used for the deposit of waste to be collected under this section, anything which he knows or has reasonable cause to believe to be unsuitable for use as animal feeding stuffs, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds; and if any person (other than a person employed in connection with the local authority's collection of the waste) removes the whole or part of the contents of any such receptacle when placed in a street or public place or set out for the purpose of its contents being removed under this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds or, if he has been previously convicted of the like offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(6) A local authority may make bye-laws regulating in their area or any part of it the collection of kitchen or other waste for use as animal feeding stuffs and the carriage of waste so collected (whether there or elsewhere), and in particular for securing the use of suitable times, routes, vehicles and receptacles ; and the fines which may be imposed by the bye-laws on persons offending against them may be of an amount not exceeding ten pounds, with, in the case of a continuing offence, a further sum not exceeding forty shillings for each day during which the offence continues after conviction therefor.

Bye-laws made under this subsection shall require confirmation of the Minister of Housing and Local Government.

(7) Proceedings in respect of an offence created by or under this section shall not be taken by any person other than the local authority in whose area the offence is alleged to have been committed, unless taken by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions:

Provided that, where a local authority collects waste under this section outside their area, they may without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions take proceedings in respect of an offence under subsection (5) of this section alleged to have been committed at any place within the limits of their collection.

(8) Nothing in this section shall be taken as authorising anything to be used unprocessed as animal feeding stuffs where processing is required by or under any other enactment.

(9) In this section the expression "local authority" means the council of a borough, urban district or rural district or an authority which is a sanitary authority for the purposes of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936.

(10) There shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament any increase attributable to this section in the sums so payable under Part I of the Local Government Act, 1948, or under the Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1954.