Good news on waste

Reaching Wanstead has taken a good few years, but food waste bins and collection are finally here as part of a Redbridge-wide rollout. More recycling has to be a good thing, but one consequence may be that it will be impossible to avoid noticing just how much food goes to waste in the first place.

In case you missed the instructions on how to use the bins, they are here.

In short, these items CAN go in the bins:

  • plate scrapings 
  • eggs and eggshells
  • cheese and other dairy foods
  • fruit and vegetables (raw or cooked)
  • bread, pastries, cakes and biscuits
  • meat and bones (raw or cooked)
  • fish and fish bones (raw or cooked)
  • rice, pasta and beans
  • tea bags and coffee grounds 

But not welcome are oils , liquid fat, garden waste, animal bedding, packaging of any kind (though a biodegradable liner is all right), or liquids like milk which could cause spillage.

All the waste is heading towards Dagenham where is going to be used to produce bio-gas for electricity and heat, and a bio-fertiliser. Crucially it captures methane which is 25 times worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

So food waste collections – bravo.

4 thoughts on “Good news on waste”

  2. Wanstead composting initiative set sail for good international community relations some years ago and expanded, we now have 6 or 8 bins? A free workshop well publicised was attended, myself included to brush up on my composting skills. This definitely is the way forward to encourage permaculture, it doesn’t take a lot of space and time to build a proper compost bin out of recycled slats etc. just browse some building yards, however small you can begin to grow your own salad on a window sill even with beautiful rich soil. Much better than costing food waste, convenience, pollution road miles and the risk of upsetting local wildlife. Think again!

    1. Hi Les, can you tell me where the bins are, I’d be happy to drop my food wasn’t there a couple of times a week as I’m in and around Wanstead every day working
      Thanks Nick

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