In the news: New food waste caddies to be delivered across the borough

Our waste crews will be distributing them from Monday with the first area of delivery being to Wickford. The crews will then deliver to Billericay, Laindon, and Basildon before concluding in Pitsea over the next eight to ten weeks. 50 food liners will be delivered alongside the caddies to be used for residents' food waste each week.

Once the service starts in Autumn, food waste will be collected on a weekly basis from your usual collection point on your usual collection day. Garden waste will continue to be collected via your existing green bin on the same day as your glass box every other week.

Food waste will be collected by our new fleet of electric vehicles, helping to reduce the environmental impact of our waste services and help the council's operations become carbon net zero by 2030.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Carbon Reduction, Councillor Kevin Blake, said: "We're separating food waste from garden waste to meet new government legislation and encourage food recycling to help reduce the staggering 1/3 of food waste currently in our black sacks.

"These new containers will reduce the amount of litter on our streets through split bags, and will encourage residents to change behaviour and recycle food waste which will generate renewable energy that will heat and power our homes, rather than building up waste at landfill.

"Recycling your food waste is a simple way to reduce your environmental impact -  use your new caddies for all your cooked and raw food, your peelings and bones, and do your bit to keep our streets clean and our planet healthy."

For more information on the council's upcoming separated food and garden waste collection service, visit: 

ENDS

Published 18 July 2022