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We have used a 3 minute video to explain how the food waste recycling service works.
Narrator: “A typical family throws away a quarter of a tonne of food waste each year.
This all mounts up at landfill, where the food gets buried and rots without oxygen producing
large quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas much more harmful than carbon dioxide.
You can avoid wasting two thirds of this by planning meals and storing food carefully.
This can also save you hundreds of pounds each year. And it’s not just a waste of
money. Think of the energy, water and packaging wasted when you throw away good food. The
London Borough of Merton makes it easy to recycle food with weekly food waste collections.
It’s so easy, even a child can do it!”
Resident: “I find the food waste really, really easy to use. I was a big proponent
of it when it first came out. I was rushing to get my little bin. It just lives under
my sink. I use it everyday, all day. We have those little corn starch bags that go inside,
so there’s no mess. Just fill it up and every few days when it gets full, tie it up
and chuck it in the bin outside. I put everything in it, other than my vegetable peelings, which
I compost in my own compost. It couldn’t be easier. My kids know what to do and they
are only 4 and 1. It’s as easy as that.”
Narrator: “Keep your caddy in your kitchen and line it with the compostable liner. It’s
important you don’t use plastic bags, as they are not compostable. Your weekly food
waste collection service will recycle all cooked and uncooked food. This includes: any
out of date food; vegetables and fruit peelings; fruit pips and stones; bread; cheese; tea
bags; meat and fish bones, fat and gristle; … everything. You can even scrape the leftovers
off your plate. When you empty your food caddy into your outside food bin you can put the
compostable bag straight in too. Leave your bin at the front edge of your property for
collection every week on the same day as your rubbish or recycling.”
Resident: “It’s really easy using the food waste service. I thought it was going
to be really messy when we first started using it, but it’s actually not at all. We actually
find that we’re throwing away far less food. So we’re really happy with it.”
Narrator: ”After the collection crew have emptied your food waste into their truck,
they take it to a special enclosed composting facility. The waste is shredded in to small
pieces to help it break down. It’s mixed regularly, to evenly spread the materials.
The temperature is carefully controlled to help speed up the composting process. After
2 or 3 months, your food waste is turned into nutrient rich compost.
This is then used as soil improver for horticultural purposes, and
for the restoration of landfill and industrial sites.”
Find out more about reducing your food waste at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.
Help the environment, recycle your food waste.