Solihull residents to benefit from new weekly food waste recycling collection

Residents in Solihull will benefit from a new weekly food waste recycling collection this autumn, helping to turn their waste into renewable energy and fertiliser for local farms.

The service by Solihull Council will begin for most households from Monday 5 October.

If residents live in a house or flat and have their own bin or sacks, the council will deliver two caddies to each household between August and September. 

They will receive a seven-litre kitchen caddy and a  23-litre lockable outdoor caddy to keep outside and deter pests, plus a guide to using the service. 

The new service comes as part of the Government’s Simpler Recycling scheme, which is designed to make recycling easier and more consistent across England. 

Residents will need to put any food or waste – such as plate scrapings, peelings and tea bags into the new kitchen caddy.

Most food waste can go in the caddy, except for liquids. When the caddy is full, it can be emptied into the new outside food caddy ready for normal collection day.

As residents will be recycling more and putting less waste into their rubbish bin, most households will have their rubbish collected fortnightly instead of weekly from Monday 5 October.

Recycling and garden waste collections (if subscribed) will stay the same.   

Solihull Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure, Cllr Ken Hawkins, (pictured) said: “We’re excited to launch this new weekly service for residents, which offers a fantastic opportunity for us all to waste less and recycle more.  

“Over 30% of waste from Solihull households is food waste and the average UK family throws away up to £1,000-worth of edible food each year. 

“This new service gives residents the chance to cut down on the amount of food thrown away, save money, and contribute to a cleaner, greener Solihull.  

“Rather than burning food waste, it will be turned into fertiliser for local farms and renewable energy, making it better for our environment.” 

Residents are being invited to learn more about the new service and collection changes at a series of summer information events, hosted by the Council’s waste and recycling team and Veolia.

The first takes place at 10am-midday on Saturday 6 June at Knowle Green Fair, St John’s Hall, High Street, Knowle.