We’re on a mission to increase the amount of food being recycled!
Did you know around 26% of food waste in Essex currently ends up in the general rubbish bin before going to landfill? But food doesn’t just rot and breakdown harmlessly in landfill - it lets off greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change!
This is why a new Love Essex project is being launched in partnership with Essex County Council to try and increase the amount of food being recycled at the kerbside.
When food is recycled, it is transformed into fertiliser which can be used in farming across Essex and energy.
Starting next week, if you have a grey wheeled general rubbish bin, you will notice a reminder sticker on your bin, and a one-off delivery of a roll of caddy liners and a leaflet to encourage more residents to recycle more by using the weekly food waste collection service. Keep an eye out!
Did you know? 1. Avoiding food waste would benefit the environment as much as taking a quarter of cars off the road.
2. When food waste isn’t recycled, it ends up in landfill. Here, it decomposes and produces methane - a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. 3. A single recycled banana peel can generate enough electricity to fully charge your smartphone twice.
4. One lorry load of food waste would be able to generate enough electricity to power 20,000 TVs for an hour.
5. If food waste was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases behind the USA and China.