Food recycling collections expanding to purpose-built flats borough-wide

We are continuing to expand our food waste recycling service to more properties with communal waste and recycling bins, with a commitment to providing food waste collections to all these properties where practicable by the end of 2025. 

Following a successful trial, 5,600 flats now receive food waste collections in Richmond upon Thames. From the first week of September 2024, 11 new blocks — or 305 flats — are being added to the weekly food waste collections, with the expansion to include an additional 10,000 flats by the end of March and a further 5,000 by the end of 2025.   

Councillor Julia Neden-Watts, Chair of the Environment, Sustainability, Culture and Sports Committee, said: 

“We are very pleased to be expanding our food recycling service to more flats across the borough over the coming months.  

“The service is simple to use and an important element to tackling the problem of food products going into general waste bins and reducing the carbon emissions associated with managing that waste.  

“The best action that we can all take against food waste is to reduce how much food we throw away to begin with. Making small changes to the way we shop, store and prepare food can have substantial effects on not only the environment, but money saved as well. We have a lot of resources available on our website to help make these small changes easy.” 

Residents will be notified if they are part of the upcoming rollout. A kitchen caddy, leaflet and a free starter roll of compostable liners will be provided to every household covered, along with a communal food waste recycling container near the communal wheeled bins. These will be delivered, around one week before the first weekly collection.  

If you use communal wheeled bins for rubbish and recycling and would like to find out if your flats are suitable for the food recycling service, contact foodrecycling@richmond.gov.uk. 

Residents who are yet to receive this food recycling service can reduce and recycle their food waste in a variety of easy ways, from home composting scraps where this is possible, to learning about proper food storage to maximise freshness and using a meal planner. Read more tips and helpful resources on reducing food waste.

See more information about our food recycling service.