In the news: Basildon Council supports Food Waste Action Week

This year's theme is 'Win. Don't bin' - demonstrating how valuable food is in our lives, how it unites people, and how using up everything we buy saves money, time and the planet.  

Basildon Council is creating a waste service that is more efficient, more environmentally friendly, and more sustainable in the long term. In October last year, the council introduced weekly food waste collections to encourage food recycling and help reduce the staggering 33% of food waste that was in black sacks.

Thanks to the support of residents, recycling rates have increased considerably. Based on the first few months of the service going live we are collecting and recycling on average over 400 tonnes of food waste a month. If we continue to recycle this amount of food waste every month in the borough for the first 12 months we will:

• Power over 2,000 homes with renewable energy from your food waste
• Save the equivalent Co2 emissions produced yearly by over 1,800 diesel cars if this waste had gone to landfill

Cabinet Member for Environment and Carbon Reduction, Councillor Kevin Blake, said: "We are proud to support Food Waste Action Week again this year to highlight the importance of reducing food waste, and in turn, saving money and the planet.

"We cannot achieve our climate ambition alone. There are many small changes we can all make that will have a have a big impact - start by using up leftovers."

To find out more about what Basildon is doing to combat climate change visit Climate Change Basildon 2030 

Find out more about our food waste collections Food and garden waste collections are improving this October - Basildon

ENDS

Published 7 March 2023