Westminster first trialled food waste collection in 2019, and this was expanded in 2022 and also last year to cover every household “where possible” (see letsrecycle.com story).
Today (5 March) the council outlined that it has collected 3,000 tonnes of food waste over the last two years, which contributed to its recycling rate rising by 3.7 percentage points year-on-year to 24.6% in 2022/23.
This moved the council up 10 places in the recycling ‘league tables‘ for English authorities.
Food waste
The food waste service is available to 87% of households in the borough and won the ‘Service Change at Local Authority Level’ award at last year’s Awards for Excellence, organised by letsrecycle.com.
The service enabled Westminster to become the most improved London council for recycling.
Food waste is sent to a number of different AD facilities under the contract.
‘Commitment’
Helder Branco, general manager of Veolia Westminster said: “This is a fantastic result and demonstrates that food waste services in challenging urban environments can work, when innovation and resident needs are at the heart of the project.
“The latest addition to the food waste expansion, the on-demand service, showcases this perfectly and demonstrates our commitment to delivering Ecological Transformation throughout our services. The team’s innovations would have been for nothing, however, without the residents of the City of Westminster embracing the change and using their new food waste service, as this huge recycling rate increase demonstrates.”
Service
As part of its food waste project the company has introduced communal on-street bins for around 19,000 homes who may not access to storage space for bins or bags. It reports that so far 57 bins have been installed across the city.
Residents are also able to book a two-hour collection slot for the collection of their bag of food waste from their front door.
‘Grateful’
Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, cabinet member for city management and air quality said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Westminster residents and businesses for their active participation in recycling and helping to make Westminster a green city. This is a very encouraging result, and it shows that by working together we can secure a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for Westminster.”
To find out more about food waste collections, visit the Food Waste conference on 7 March. To find out more or to book your tickets, click here.
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