A new Somerset food waste recycling campaign is driving up recycling rates and prompting a jump in demand for food waste bins.
Although ‘Slim My Waste, Feed My Face’ has only reached half the county, food waste recycling in the campaign area has soared by around 30%, according to Somerset Waste Partnership.
Families have requested 8,500 free new food waste containers to start or restart food recycling, promising even better results.
The campaign is delivering colourful bin reminders and ‘make-a-face stickers’ to all 260,000 homes to encourage everyone to recycle all their food waste.
Rubbish bins get a friendly ‘no food waste’ notice and a recyclable yellow tape around their waste.
Fun stickers are also being delivered to each home so residents can decorate their food waste bin with a new face, demonstrating householders’ commitment to food recycling and encouraging others to do the right thing.
All food waste in Somerset is immediately transformed by an anaerobic digestion plant near Bridgwater into power for homes and a compost for local farmers to grow more food.
All food waste – raw, cooked, fresh or “off”, meat, fish, fruit or veg, pasta, cereal, bread and all plate scrapings – can be recycled every week, wrapped in newspaper or compostable bags.
A Somerset Waste Partnership spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “These are fantastic early results, proving the serious value of this fun campaign in getting residents to recycle all they can, turning so-called waste into a valuable resource that can light the darkness and put meals on the table.”
“Recycling food waste is far cheaper, more productive and less polluting than burying it in landfill to generate greenhouse gases. By nudging people to do the right thing, the campaign will swiftly make back all its costs, and generate further saving for other vital local services.”
“The stickers and tape have drawn plenty of attention and raised some eyebrows, but they certainly seem to have got people thinking and recycling more.”
To find out more about Slim My Waste, Feed My Face, click here.
