Hackney launches food waste recycling campaign

As part of the campaign council staff will be providing residents with a free six-month supply of compostable bags and new food waste caddies where needed.

Food waste collections were introduced for 12,500 households in the borough in 2005 and the service was rolled out borough wide in March 2007.

Councillor Feryal Demirci, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at the council, said: Recycling more of our food waste can help lower the amount of greenhouse gases created at landfills and can help reduce climate change. It will also help save local taxpayers money, as it currently costs around 2 million a year to get rid of food waste in Hackney.

With the free liners and new caddies, residents will be able to see how simple it is to take part in food recycling.

Caddies

As part of the scheme the council will also be replacing any caddies that are broken or damaged with a better quality, more sturdy model made by container manufacturer Straight.

Residents had raised concerns with the council about the durability of the caddies, which are on average five years old, and following a trial with ten green champions in the borough the new model was chosen. The council said that it did not wish to disclose which company had previously supplied the caddies.

A council spokeswoman said: When food waste recycling was first introduced in the borough there was a limited range of receptacles on offer. After reports of cracking, new caddies were trialled with ten green champions over the course of a month. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the robustness and usability of the new caddies and they were introduced to the borough.

Service

Hackneys food waste, along with the rest of the boroughs household waste, is collected by waste contractor May Gurney. Residents have weekly collections of food waste, dry recyclables and garden waste. The recyclables are collected in a green box and are separated at the kerbside. Residual waste is also collected weekly.

Once collected the food waste is taken to LondonWastes EcoPark in Edmonton, North London, where it is processed in an in-vessel composting facility for 12-weeks. The resulting product is PAS100 quality compost.