FOOD WASTE

Food waste

UK households still waste 4.5m tonnes of food a year that could have been eaten, worth £14bn. This amounts to £700 for an average family with children! That’s why it is important to plan your shopping and meals to reduce domestic food waste, here are some useful tips on how to do so: https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/portion-planner.

Install a food waste disposer (FWD)

Fits under your kitchen sink and can:

⚡Help you get rid of food waste immediately, without leaving the kitchen

⚡Grind all food waste, including bones

Why Is It Important to Recycle Food?

This short video from our partners, Sustainable Merton, explains why recycling food waste matters — and how it’s turned into biofertiliser and electricity.

Animation: Food Recycling

How food waste collected from Merton households becomes biofertiliser and electricity.

Food Waste Collection

Merton Council explains how food waste is collected and recycled, step by step.

Food Waste Collection in Your Borough

This short video from our partners, Sustainable Merton, explains why recycling food waste matters — and how it’s turned into biofertiliser and electricity.

Merton Council collects food waste on a weekly basis. You will need to put your food waste in compostable food waste caddy liners:

  • You can buy 7-litre kitchen caddy liners in Merton libraries, at £2.50 for a roll of 25 bags
  • Caddy liners are also available in supermarkets and shops
  • You can also use newspaper instead of compostable liners to line your caddy and dispose of the newspaper the same way as your food waste

Wandsworth Council has introduced free food waste collections for households with enough space at the front of their property for a food waste caddy, for example a front garden or driveway. You can find out more about food waste collections on the council website.

If your food waste goes to landfill it will produce a lot of methane – a very harmful greenhouse gas. If to help protect the environment you can set up your own compost if you have a garden.

Recycle Now can instruct you on how to set up your own compost in your garden here. Here is an example of a home composter.

Richmond Council recycles food waste and turns it into energy and fertiliser. This saves money and helps the environment.

Find out more about Richmond’s food waste service on the council website.

More tips:

⚡In Waitrose (bigger shops), bulky items can be packed in free compostable bags — try to shop this way where you can, then compost the bags, or bring your own fruit bag to reduce waste.

⚡Help restaurants and shops reduce food waste using the Too Good To Go app, which offers discounted food that wasn’t sold during the day.

⚡OLIO is another app where you can share unused food and items before their expiry date.