Government

Islington trial collects food waste from flats above shops

Islington Council has been trialling a food waste collection for flats above shops; previously considered mission impossible. Councillor Champion and Matthew Homer, Waste Strategy Manager, sit down with Resource to share results so far.

With support from the North London Waste Authority, Islington Council has launched a food waste collection trial for flats above shops; the residents of which have few options but to put food waste into their residual waste bins.

Islington Food Waste TrialMatthew Homer, Islington Council Waste Strategy Manager, said: “I think local authorities right across the country have assumed that food waste services could not be provided to flats above shops. It's just not practical.

“But, with a little bit of a nudge from the Environment Act requirement around household food waste collections, the council's ambition around net zero carbon and increasing recycling rates, and our can-do attitude, we made a commitment in our last waste reduction and recycling plan to trial this.”

The Environment Act – which came into effect in November 2021 – mandates that recyclable household waste (which includes food waste) must be ‘collected separately from other household waste’. Although the Act definitely gave ‘a nudge’, another more forceful push is incoming consistency legislation when all English local authorities will have to provide all households with weekly separate collections for food waste - the date for which is yet to be confirmed.

Details of the food waste trial

Islington’s trial launched in November 2022 on Holloway Road. It saw the installation of one street bin for roughly every 33 households, with the aim of encouraging 268 households to participate.

“We went through a thought process about how we can best provide food waste collection services to these flats, which are often relatively difficult to access,” Matthew explained. “We've come up with an arrangement, which involves putting really good quality, nice looking, rodent-proof, communal food waste collection bins at strategic points along the pavement, and engaging with residents, giving them more caddies, information, leaflets and so on, and inviting them to bring their food waste down, and to put it in the communal bins.”

Matthew said the initial approach was to try place the street bins close to communal front doors; to make it as convenient as possible for residents to engage. However, it quickly became clear that the food waste bins were being used as litter bins, causing heavy contamination. The team realised that the food waste bins needed to be located right next to litter bins, so that the distinction was clear: “We were going for convenience for the resident, but as soon as we moved litter bins next to the food waste bins, contamination pretty much dropped off.”

Alongside convenience and contamination, cleanliness is also an important consideration when encouraging residents to put large volumes of organic waste into a busy, public space. During the trial, the bins are emptied ‘at least once a week’ and are cleaned and monitored regularly.

“When we're looking at the cost of providing this service, [cleanliness] is an essential element,” Matthew explained. “It’s not a luxury add-on. It’s not just about emptying the bins, it's about maintaining the bins and keeping them clean and hygienic for residents to use.”

Another relatively minor cost consideration is the 240 litre custom-designed bins that have an integrated pedal mechanism. Matthew explained that feedback from residents – particularly in relation to COVID-19 – highlighted reluctance to touch bin handles: “The pedal mechanism is great, but obviously it does increase the cost of the container.”

Resident engagement

Residents approached to take part in the trial have been enthusiastic and willing. Volumes of food waste collected in the trial equate to about 30 kg per household per annum, which is comparable to those collected door-to-door from estates. And the trial volumes only seem to be increasing.

However, Councillor Champion highlighted that replicating the successful setup conditions of the trial at scale could prove problematic.

“You've got public infrastructure, but getting people to know that infrastructure is there for them to use is different to just going to someone's house and leaving a caddy on the doorstep,” says Champion.

“Also you can only reach a certain number of people because, by their very nature, those living in flats above shops are sometimes quite difficult to contact and are often quite transient. In terms of actually having a service that works, we're reasonably confident. How you get more and more people to engage in that service… seems to me where the issue would be.”

Going forward

To sum up the results of the trial, Matthew Homer said: “I think we’ve demonstrated that it can be done. It's going to give some really good information on how much it costs both in terms of upfront capital and ongoing revenue costs. And we are very happy to share that information and data.

He concluded: “The ongoing cost of the service is another challenge. It is an additional cost. And of course, we are waiting with bated breath to hear the outcome of the Government's promises to fund what is a new burden on local authorities. We're expecting a decision or an announcement later this year.”

Councillor Champion added: “We are working very hard on getting the message across that actually if you don't create the food waste in the first place, then that's ideal.”