Food waste recycling
We are introducing free food waste collections from June 2024 to make it easier for you to recycle.
Food waste collections
We are rolling out food waste collections across the whole borough to more than 80,000 households, following a successful trial in Southfields and Bedford Hill.
Collections for eligible households will start on Monday 10 June 2024. Collections for residents in blocks of flats will start later in the year.
Let us know if you've got a question about the new service.
Eligibility
Households are eligible for kerbside collections if they have enough space at the front of the property for a food waste caddy, e.g. a front garden or driveway.
Starting your collections
You will receive your new food waste caddies by 7 June 2024.
Collections do not start until Monday 10 June 2024. Do not put food waste into your new caddies until seven days before your usual collection day.
For example, if your normal collection day is Friday 14 June, you can start using your caddy from Friday 7 June.
Vehicles
We are introducing new vehicles that run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, a biofuel made from processed vegetable oils or animal fats.
The new vehicles will deliver up to a 90% reduction in carbon emissions.
From Monday 10 June, your rubbish and recycling will be collected by three separate vehicles, at different times of day. One vehicle will collect rubbish, one recycling and one food waste.
Food waste caddies
Between 8 April and 7 June, you will receive your new food waste caddies. If your neighbours have received their caddies but you haven't, let us know we missed you.
You will get:
- An outdoor brown caddy (23 litre)
- An indoor silver caddy (5 litre)
- A starter pack of compostable caddy liners to line your silver caddy. The liners don’t like getting wet, so keep them inside with your silver caddy
- A booklet explaining all about your new food waste collection service
The 5 litre food waste caddy can be kept in your kitchen. It can be emptied into your larger outdoor caddy throughout the week.
The 23 litre food waste caddy should be stored outside with the handle in the 'up' position to lock the lid and protect it from animals. If the handle of your brown waste caddy is loose, don’t worry, in most cases you can easily fix it back in place. Otherwise, let us know your caddy is broken and we will deliver a new one.
Lining your caddy
Lining your caddy can help keep it clean and odour-free.
Compostable starch liners are recommended, but you can also use old newspaper, paper bags or kitchen roll, or just rinse your caddy after emptying.
Compostable liners are made of corn or potato starch and will biodegrade completely in as few as 30 days in a controlled commercial process.
When purchasing liners, ensure they are marked as conforming to composting standard EN13432 and display the 'seedling' logo below.
Do not use any other plastic liner.
How to leave your food waste out
Food waste is collected weekly on your usual collection day, but in a different vehicle from your rubbish and recycling collections.
Make sure your outdoor food waste caddy is available for collection by 6.30am on your collection day. It can be placed by the front entrance of your property along with any clear recycling sacks and/or rubbish.
Your food waste caddy will not be emptied if it contains any items we cannot recycle.
What you can and can't recycle
You can put this food waste in your food waste caddy:
- Plate scrapings
- Bread and pastries
- Fruit and vegetable peelings (including fruit stones)
- Meat, fish and bones (cooked or uncooked)
- Eggshells
- Dairy products (e.g. cheese)
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
You can recycle any mouldy or out of date food including ready meals – just remove the packaging.
You can't put this waste in your food waste caddy:
- Liquid food waste, milk or oils
- Biodegradable plastic coffee pods
- Compostable packaging (except compostable caddy liners)
- Any other plastics/bio plastics (e.g. Vegware)
- Paper or kitchen roll (except to line the caddy)
- Foil or cling film
- Garden waste
How food is recycled
The food waste you produce is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility, where it’s turned into renewable energy and an agricultural fertiliser.
Do not add any plastic or packing to your food waste as this can contaminate the agricultural fertiliser.
Reducing food waste
Reducing food waste and recycling as much as you can helps to reduce both environmental impacts and costs. An average family with children can save £60 per month by reducing their food waste.
Less food thrown away means less impact on the environment from:
- Food production and distribution
- Collecting and disposing of it when it gets thrown away
To reduce food waste you can:
- Plan your meals - Meal planning is one of the most effective ways you can save on your food bills and reduce waste. A meal plan will encourage you to think about the food you cook and help you only buy what you need
- Use what you have - Keep track of your fresh food and leftovers and eat them before they go bad
- Check your fridge temperature - Your fridge temperature should be set between 0 and 5°C. Storing food at a lower temperature can significantly extend storage lives, giving you more opportunities to use fresh food
- Use your freezer - Most food, raw or cooked, can be frozen without a problem. Freezing food before its use-by date can save you money and reduce waste
- Measure your portions - You can reduce waste by only cooking the amount of food you need. Try the Love Food, Hate Waste food portion calculator for recommended average portion sizes
Home composting
You can produce your own compost at home using leftovers and food scraps. Find out how to compost at home.
Buy home composting containers
You can buy compost bins and wormeries from GetComposting. They provide a wide range of affordable containers that are available via mail order.
Contact
If you have any questions about food waste collections you can:
- Use our contact form and we will get back to you
- Call us on 020 8871 8558.