The food waste trial starts today

Approximately 11,000 households will trial the new service over 26 weeks to test collection methods. The Council’s Cabinet will then decide whether to roll out the collections to the rest of the borough.

This initiative is part of the Council’s 10 year Waste Strategy, which sets out how the Council will increase recycling and reduce waste across the borough to protect the environment, both here as well as nationally and internationally.

The collection of food waste for recycling carries many economic and environmental benefits. During the trial period there is potential for Swindon to divert up to 200 tonnes of food waste to be recycled and composted rather than used as fuel or sent to landfill.

Recycling food waste will also reduce the cost of disposal, which means more money can be diverted to deliver other essential council services.

Each house on the trial will have received a 5 litre indoor grey caddy and a 23 litre outdoor green caddy. Residents occupying flats will receive an indoor 5 litre grey caddy and a large food waste bin will be introduced to their communal bin stores.

Food waste can be disposed of in the indoor caddy loose or within a biodegradable or compostable liner. Residents who choose to line their caddies with a bin liner will be required to purchase these themselves.

Food waste will be collected on a weekly basis, residents can find out more information about their collection day at swindon.gov.uk/foodwaste.

If a resident believes the Council has missed their food waste collection they should report it online by the end of the next working day at swindon.gov.uk/householdwaste.   

If a resident’s outdoor caddy is damaged or stolen they can order a replacement caddy free of charge on our website during the trial period.

Councillor Maureen Penny, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and the Environment, said: “Trialling food waste collections is one of the key actions from the Waste Strategy we agreed last year which aims to protect the environment and make sure we can collect Swindon’s waste in a sustainable way.

“Food waste collections are carried out by many other councils up and down the country and can have a huge impact on hitting recycling targets set by national Government as well as making sure we are processing our waste in the best possible way for the environment.”