Phase 2 of our weekly food waste collections is starting this week in Westdene, Patcham, Hollingbury, Hollingdean, Coldean, Bevendean, Moulsecoomb, Withdean and Preston Park.
Residents in these areas can now put all cooked and uncooked food waste in their caddies, rather than their waste bin. This includes unpackaged bread, pasta and rice, fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and bones, dairy, tea bags and coffee grounds.
After collection, the food waste is turned into compost and soil improver to help grow more food.
Phase 1 launched in the east of the city on 15 September, and has been a huge success, with participation well above what would usually be expected with a new service. We received only 78 reports of missed collections in the whole first month across 11,000 households, and those were all collected within 24 hours.
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said: “It’s been fantastic to see residents using the new service. There’s been very high participation and very low contamination, which means we’ve already turned 40 tonnes of food into compost. This will be fed back into the soil to grow more food, completing the cycle from field to fork and back to field.
“Phase 2 starts this week and we’re on course to roll out food waste collections to the whole city by next March.”
Starter packs have been delivered to households with advice to leave out caddies on the edge of properties where crews can easily see them. Pull the handle upright to keep the lid secure. Some blocks of flats will have access to a shared food waste bin instead of individual caddies.
Food waste can be put out for collection either the night before or before 5am on collection day. Crews will be out collecting between 5am and 10pm.
Recycling food waste also saves council taxpayers’ money on waste disposal – currently more than a third of the waste found in household bins is food – that’s more than 21,000 tonnes going to waste every year.
Find out more about food waste collections on our website. Here you can also check your collection day, order a replacement caddy and report a missed collection.
The council is investing £1.2 million in the new weekly food waste service so all households, whether in a kerbside or communal area, will be able to recycle their food waste by March 2026.
The new service is being rolled out in a further 2 stages. Each phase will inform the next, so the dates may be subject to change. The current timeline is:
Developing a circular economy, expanding the materials we collect, making recycling easier and working with residents to re-use resources and reduce waste, are key objectives of our Council Plan, and our goal to create an accessible, clean and sustainable city.
Brighton & Hove’s new food waste collections service has been supported by a grant from the UK Government.
