Why have we launched a food waste recycling service?

A large proportion of waste that Peterborough residents put in their black bins, around 40 per cent, used to be food waste - for example: vegetable peelings and half-eaten meals. Recycling your food waste is as easy as recycling your current plastic bottles, food and drink cans, aerosols, drink cartons, mixed glass and mixed paper and card and is collected weekly. The service has been introduced to increase the amount of waste recycled across the city and will save the city’s tax payers hundreds of thousands of pounds per year.

Instead of paying for food waste to be buried in landfill sites, at great expense, it is collected and sent away to be turned into fertiliser which is used on farmland; the processed waste will also help to generate energy.

Your new food waste caddies

Each household received a caddy for the kitchen and a locking food waste container to sit alongside the other outside recycling bins, and is much smaller than your normal wheeled bins. An initial supply of biodegradable caddy liners was also provided for your kitchen caddy.

The food waste bin is collected every week along with either your black or brown and green bins. To check your collection days, click here. If you have any questions about the new recycling service visit our Frequenty Asked Questions page.

“For those that aren’t motivated by helping the local environment, just remember that if we all pull together we can literally save hundreds of thousands of pounds per year – money that can be spent on services in Peterborough that really matter to you” Councillor Matthew Lee.