More and more of us recycling food

Your food is at its best when it’s on your plate, ready to be enjoyed. It’s perfect in your fridge, ready to be used, or stored in the freezer for another time. It’s at it’s worst when it ends up in the bin.
We all want to reduce how much food we waste, whether that’s by cooking up leftovers, making sure the temperature in our fridge is below 5 degrees or making a list before we pop to the shops. National trends show that we are getting better at avoiding food waste, but there is still a way to go.
Many of us still end up with a mouldy slice of bread, potatoes that have sprouted or leftovers from that new recipe that the family turned their noses up at. There will always be food that cannot be eaten like coffee grounds, banana skins or meat bones as well.
More and more people are trying to give that food waste one more chance by recycling it at home. Weekly collections of food recycling have been around a while now and more people than ever are using them.

Why recycle food?

Recycling food is easy, and you get it collected weekly, but most importantly, by recycling it, you are helping generate green energy and a high quality fertiliser. Both of which have a positive impact on the environment and avoid the need for fossil fuels and fertilisers.
It also costs local councils hundreds of thousands of pounds every year to dispose of the food waste that gets chucked in the rubbish bin.

What happens to it after it’s collected?

The food waste is collected separately and sent to specialist Anaerobic Digestion facilities locally where it is recycled. The food is macerated and put into large tanks with a blend of bacteria that break the food down and produce a biogas which is used to generate electricity. The food waste left at the end of the process is called digestate, and it’s a high quality fertiliser used in agriculture to avoid the use of chemical fertilisers.

What do you need to get started?

Visit the council website to order an indoor and outdoor caddy and find out what you can recycle. Then when your caddies arrive you can use kitchen roll, compostable liners or plastic bags to line your caddy, or just put the food in loose. Then pop your caddy out for collection each week and give your food one last chance to make a difference.