What you can recycle
You can put cooked, uncooked and raw food in your caddy. This includes:
- Meat and fish
- Fruit and vegetables
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
- Dairy products, like eggs and cheese
- Rice, pasta, and beans
- Peelings
- Leftovers
Please don’t put packaging, large bones and carcasses, plastic bags, liquids, oil and liquid fat or garden waste in your caddy.
How to get started
To start recycling your food waste, you need:
- An indoor caddy, for inside your home
- Compostable bags, to line your caddy
- An outdoor container, depending on where you live.
If you don't have what you need:
- Request a free indoor caddy or outdoor container.
- Get compostable bags from your local library, some concierge offices and community centres, or buy them from supermarkets
Step-by-step guide
- Line your indoor caddy with a compostable bag and start putting food waste in
- After two to three days, tie up the filled bag
- Put the filled bag out for collection.
Collections
Different properties in Islington have different collections. Find out where and when to leave your food waste out for collection.
Frequently asked questions
Why should I recycle my food waste?
Recycling food waste is easy and plays an important part in making our borough a greener, healthier place for everyone.
Your food waste gets turned into a gas called biomethane for generating electricity. By recycling just one banana peel, you can generate enough power to fully charge your phone. It’s also used as compost for parks and green spaces. Around 70% of the UK’s wasted food comes from our homes.
If we all recycled our food waste, we could make a huge difference.
What if I don’t produce enough food waste to justify recycling it?
Often people waste more food than they think. The average family throws out 241.2kg of food every year – roughly the weight of a male grizzly bear!
If you don’t have leftovers and eat all the food you buy, that’s brilliant. But, in many cases, we produce unavoidable food waste, such as used tea bags, fruit skins, and eggshells. By recycling this food waste properly, you can play your part in creating a greener, healthier Islington.
Isn't it yucky?
One of the reasons why some people don’t recycle their food waste is the "yuck factor", with people worrying about leaks and spills.
But the process of scraping your food into your caddy is the same as putting it into your general rubbish bin, plus you can empty it more regularly. The compostable bags that we provide, and that many supermarkets stock, are strong and, if filled correctly, won’t split. Remember that the compostable bags will break down over time, so pick up one roll at a time!
In addition, recycling your food waste often creates fewer smells and is more hygienic than putting it in your general rubbish bin. That’s because the small indoor caddy can be emptied more regularly, keeping bad smells out of your home. By putting a thin layer of newspaper or compostable bag inside the caddy, you can keep it clean and odour-free.
How do I report missed collections?
What happens after my food waste has been collected?
We collect it, using one of the vehicles from our fleet – many of which are electric. It's then taken to what’s called an "anaerobic digestion" facility. That's the name for a process in which your food waste is broken down in an oxygen-tight container. Once it's been there for around two-and-a-half months, the food turns into a gas called biomethane, which can be used to generate electricity.
What's left of the food in the oxygen-tight container is squeezed dry, and transformed into a rich fertiliser that’s used on agricultural land.
How do I reduce my food waste?
In the UK, 70% of all food waste is generated by citizens in their own homes. Of the 6.6 million tonnes of food thrown away by UK households, 4.5 million tonnes could have been eaten. So, as well as recycling our food waste, we can all make a difference by reducing the overall amount that we waste.
Visit Eat Like A Londoner for tips on how you can make your food last for longer and for recipes using leftovers.
Want to know more?
Related information
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Small change big difference
Simple ideas to make the small changes that will lead to big differences. Includes useful tips and recipes to reduce waste and eat healthily.
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Report a missed collection
The quickest, easiest way to report a missed collection is through your My Islington account, or by downloading the Love Clean Streets app.
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Love Food Hate Waste
Visit the Love Food Hate Waste for tips on reducing your food waste and recipe ideas
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Olio
Avoid buying new by sharing and finding items locally, including food