People living in the east of the city are to be the first to get food waste collections, start next month.
Residents in Saltdean, Rottingdean, Ovingdean, Woodingean and Brighton Marina will receive a starter pack which includes a kitchen caddy, compostable caddy liners, and either an outdoor caddy (or access to a shared food waste bin for some blocks of flats).
Households will also receive a postcard with details of their start date and collection day, which will start from 15 September. Collection days for refuse and recycling collections will not change.
Residents in these areas will be able to start putting both cooked and uncooked food in their caddies a week before their first collection date instead of their waste bins.
Food waste accounts for more than a third of the waste found in household bins – that’s more than 21,000 tonnes going to waste every year.
The food waste will be turned into compost to nourish the soil and grow more food.
Encouraging residents to recycle food waste will also save money on waste disposal for council taxpayers, as it keeps food waste out of the household waste stream.
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said: “I’m excited that food waste collections are being introduced in the city.
“This is part of the council’s commitment to help residents recycle more, reduce waste and protect the environment.
“Food waste contributes a significant amount to the waste we throw away.
“From 15 September, residents from Saltdean to Brighton Marina will be able to put out food waste for collection so it can be turned into compost and fed back into the soil.”
The rollout is being carried out in four phases, each of which will inform the next, so some dates may e subject to change.
The indicative timeline is:
- From 15 September 2025 – 11,000 households in the east of city
- October 2025 – 29,500 households in the north of city
- November 2025 – 31,500 households in the west of city
- By March 2026 – 76,000 households in central and communal areas
By next April, food waste collections will cover 148,000 households, including flats and communal spaces.
No change to bin or recycling days, do we have a day for this as ours seems to get done whenever if we lucky. And save council tax payers money ! Are we going to get a cut in our council tax then ?
The rats and seagulls are forming an orderly queue…
Only if people don’t put the lids on the container properly or they think they just leave the bag outside.
Or see that the bin they are trying to put their rubbish in is overfull, so attempt to stack it on top like some bizarre game of Jenga.
You don’t compost cooked food.
You compost raw uncooked fruit and veg only.
No onions/leeks. No citrus fruits.
Add chalk (powder) not eggshells.
No animal products can be used in composting.
That’s true for home composting. Industrial sized compost heaps get much hotter, which means you can compost absolutely everything including cooked food and animal bones. Hertfordshire council started food waste collections about 15 years ago when I lived there, glad Brighton is finally getting it too.
It’s not composted in heaps.
The waste is put in large, sealed tanks or vats where the temperature etc can be controlled to maximise the process.and kill any bacteria leaving a safe compost.
I normally feed the Foxes any scraps at my end.
Oh, how delightful it is to witness our wealth! I can only imagine how affordable those bins must be, not to mention the electric lorries for collecting our precious scraps and the charming expenses of running an incinerator plant along with its staff. Truly a budget-friendly endeavor funded by FINES to control us.
The bins etc are being initially funded by a grant
Food waste will no longer be incinerated. It will be composted.
Fines cannot be used to fund this service. Also fines can easily be avoided by not breaking the law! Or this that what you mean by “control us” from not doing stupid things like speed and park and drive where you shouldn’t.
The Tories introduced the Environment Act 2021 and it means ALL councils have to start food waste collections before the end of March 2026.
I find it incredible every time I hear Tim Rowkins comment on it that he’s trying to make out it’s down to the council, it’s not, it’s new national laws they have to adhere to which means food waste collections are happening now, and the council were given £2.4 million from the government to cover set up fees for the service. It’s disingenuous for Cllr Rowkins to say things like “This is part of the council’s commitment to help residents recycle more, reduce waste and protect the environment” when it’s being introduced because if it isn’t the council won’t been meeting the legal duties it has from next year.
It is a positive it’s being introduced, but why do politicians always have to dress things up and misrepresent the reason for service changes like this.
Again – until our existing recycling is actually removed, an additional item to simply build up, rotting in the bin area doesn’t make sense. My building’s glass recycling had not been emptied since Christmas last year and our mixed plastics only twice in 8-months and only after countless emails. I applaud the initiative but without execution, it’s just another broken system.
I completely agree with you. It’s inconsistent as well in the quality of areas that get collections on a regular basis. It suggests a management issue in deployment. I’ve generally found all the actual boots on the ground to be very nice and hardworking people.
It would be more useful if City Clean could actually manage to collect the existing recycling. My street in Portslade has had one recycling collection in the last seven weeks and it is supposed to be collected fortnightly. Unfortunately there is nowhere else to store it but in the street as there is no access to the rear of the properties so the whole place is constantly like a rubbish tip. If we are going to be recycling food waste as well, it will be just a disgusting mess if they miss collections like they do now.
Why not organise collection using Beryl Bikes?
Simply strap a couple of pig bin panniers on and get the otherwise idle council officers to do the rounds – et Bob est ton oncle!
That way BHCC can find a use for Beryl Bikes at the same time.
Result!
And get some excersise at the same time !
Who can afford to waste food these days ? – very little goes in the bin at our house.
Your teabags can be composted!
Only if you buy ones that are compostable…most are not