Food waste recycling in flats

We are introducing free food waste collection for flats which use communal shared rubbish and recycling bins.

This will be a phased roll out and you will receive a letter ahead of the installation of a new communal bin.

How to recycle your food

To recycle your food waste, follow these simple steps:

1. Put your food waste in your caddy, which lives in your kitchen. You can line your caddy with compostable liners, or old newspapers and magazines
2. Take your food waste to your nearest outdoor communal food waste bin, as many times as you like during the week. We will empty the bin weekly, and clean the bin twice a year

What you can and can't recycle

You can put all cooked and raw food in your caddies. This includes:

• Plate scrapings
• Bread and pastries
• Fruit and vegetable peelings (including fruit stones)
• Meat, fish and bones (cooked or uncooked)
• Eggshells and eggs
• Dairy products (e.g. cheese)
• Tea bags (any type) and coffee grounds

You can recycle any mouldy or out of date food including ready meals – just remove the packaging.

You can't put this waste in your food waste caddy:

• Liquid food waste, milk or oils
• Biodegradable plastic coffee pods
• Compostable packaging (except compostable caddy liners)
• Any other plastics/bio plastics (e.g. Vegware)
• Paper or kitchen roll (except to line the caddy)
• Foil or cling film
• Garden waste

Food waste caddies

You will receive:

• An indoor silver caddy (5 litre)
• A starter pack of compostable caddy liners to line your silver caddy
• A leaflet explaining all about your new food waste collection service

The 5 litre food waste caddy can be kept in your kitchen. It can be emptied into the communal bin throughout the week.

Lining your caddy

Lining your caddy can help keep it clean and odour-free.

Compostable starch liners are recommended, but you can also use old newspaper, paper bags or kitchen roll, or just rinse your caddy after emptying.

Compostable liners are made of corn or potato starch and will biodegrade completely in as few as 30 days in a controlled commercial process.

Replacement liners

We will send you a starter pack of compostable liners for your silver caddy. Once these run out, you can get free top up caddy liners from:

• Your local library
• Customer reception at the Civic Centre, 44 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3BZ

You can also buy more liners from retailers if you want to. When purchasing liners, ensure they are marked as conforming to composting standard EN13432 and display the 'seedling' logo

Do not use any other plastic liner.

Missed food waste collection

If we missed your food waste collection, please report a missed collection after 4pm on your collection day. 

How food is recycled

The food waste you produce is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility, where it’s turned into renewable energy and an agricultural fertiliser.

Do not add any plastic or packing to your food waste as this can contaminate the agricultural fertiliser.

Find out what happens to your food waste recycling.

Reducing food waste

Reducing food waste and recycling as much as you can helps to reduce both environmental impacts and costs.  Find out how to reduce food waste at home.

Contact

If you have any questions about food waste collections you can:

• Use our contact form and we will get back to you
• Call us on 020 8891 1411