Weekly food waste collections launch next week

New food caddies are arriving at village households ahead of the roll out of a food waste collection service next week. The change is part of new recycling laws which mean food waste must now be collected separately from general household rubbish. 

The Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Partnership has been delivering two grey bins to every home in H&I – a smaller kitchen caddy for daily use and a larger outdoor bin – along with a roll of liners. Residents are encouraged to collect food scraps in the small caddy and transfer them to the larger bin, which should be stored outside with other wheelie bins.

Then, every week from Monday (11 May), households should place their outdoor food waste bin at the roadside on their usual collection day, alongside the bin scheduled for pickup. For H&I residents, the first food waste collection will take place on Friday 15 May.

Residents are advised to keep the lids to their outdoor caddy closed and locked, and “avoid overfilling to reduce the chance of it tipping over”. Once the weekly food waste service begins, food waste should no longer be placed in the green bin – but fallen fruit still counts as garden waste and can still be disposed of as garden waste.

Caddy food

The new service accepts a wide range of food waste, including:

• All uneaten food and plate scrapings;
• Raw and cooked food (including mouldy food);
• Fruit and vegetables (including peelings);
• Meat and fish (including bones);
• Dairy (cheese, eggs, eggshells, yoghurt);
• Bread, cakes, pastries, rice, pasta;
• Tea bags and coffee grounds; and
• Tissues / kitchen roll.

However, the following items will not be accepted:-

• Packaging of any kind (including ‘compostable plastic’ plates, cups etc.);
• Liquids such as milk;
• Oil or liquid fat; or
• Anything else that is not food waste.

The partnership continues to encourage home composting, but says the new caddy system allows residents to recycle items such as meat, fish, bones and dairy, which are not suitable for home compost heaps as they attract vermin. 

“No amount is too small,” the website says. “Items like tea bags, eggshells and fruit peelings quickly add up.”

Process

The initiative aims to increase recycling rates and reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfill.

When food decomposes in landfill, it produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas. Diverting waste through the new service is expected to help cut emissions and support climate goals.

Collected food waste will be processed at an anaerobic digestion facility, where it is broken down without oxygen to produce biogas. This renewable energy can be used to generate electricity, while the remaining material is turned into fertiliser for agriculture.

The liners provided with the caddies are plastic, but are removed during processing and do not affect recycling. Residents can continue using these liners, switch to alternatives, or use no liner at all, as long as the contents remain visible to collection crews.

Those already receiving assisted collections will automatically be included in the new service.

Missed collections should be reported online, although crews will not return for individual missed bins. If space runs out before collection day, residents may use their general waste or garden bins temporarily, following guidance to avoid contamination.

For further information about the new weekly food waste collections, visit the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste website. 

READ MORE: New weekly food waste collection aims to ease landfill burden