If agreed by the council’s Cabinet next week, weekly food waste collections could start to be introduced as early as September this year.
Over ten million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK. In Brighton & Hove around a third of household rubbish is food and drink waste, or around 2.8kg per household each week.
Increasing recycling is a key priority for the council, which is why we’re investing £1.2 million in a new weekly food waste service so that all households, whether living in a kerbside or communal area will be able to recycle their food waste.
Cabinet is being asked to agree to the phased implementation of food waste across the city. If agreed, rollout is expected to start from September 2025, with it being available for all households by March 2026.
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said: “Our recycling rates have been historically low compared to other local authorities, so making it easier for residents to recycle more is a key priority for the council.
“Getting additional materials, including food waste, out of the general refuse will improve our recycling rates. The food waste will be turned into compost for use in and around the city.
“We know how much our residents want food waste collections so it’s essential we introduce them as soon as possible.
“That’s why we’re investing £1.2 million to fund the service, alongside DEFRA’s capital funding for vehicles and equipment.”
When introduced, all households will be provided with a 5 litre kitchen caddy and a year’s supply of compostable liners. Those in kerbside areas will additionally receive a 23 litre outside food waste bin and in communal areas there will be specialist secure communal food waste bins that will be emptied every day.
Using the new bins is easy, residents simply empty any food waste they have, such as plate scrapings, peelings and tea bags into their caddy. When full, they empty it into an outside food waste bin. Kerbside collections will be made weekly, while communal food waste will be collected every day.
Once collected, the food waste will be processed and turned into compost near Lewes at the same facility as our garden waste.
Until the new service is operational, please continue to put your food waste in with your waste so you don’t contaminate the recycling and have it end up going to waste. Alternatively, you may choose to use a separate community composting scheme such as the one run by the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership.
Plans to expand the range of materials in our dry mixed recycling collections were announced in January, and trials for the new sorting processes have been taking place at our Materials Recovery Facility.
We’ll soon be accepting plastic pots, tubs and trays – such as yoghurt pots, fruit trays/punnets, margarine tubs, and soup pots, with the start date being announced in due course. This will be expanded to also include food and drink cartons, as well as aluminium foil and foil trays.
Cabinet is also being asked to agree to this expanded dry mixed recycling offer to remain in place through to the end of the current disposal contract until 2033.
Find out what items can and cannot be recycled in Brighton & Hove and where to recycle them.