New trial to turn food waste into renewable energy

Over 5000 residents to take part in a trial to turn food waste into renewable energy.
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Hand placing food waste into small bin

Newcastle City Council is introducing a new weekly food waste recycling service which will see everything from tea bags and vegetable peelings to left over takeaways and pasta recycled to generate renewable energy and produce a fertiliser to grow crops.

The trial, which will launch in September, will initially be for 5,200 households from across six of the city’s wards - Kingston Park South, Newbiggin Hall, Blakelaw, West Fenham, Benwell and Scotswood and Wingrove. 

Cllr Marion Williams, Cabinet Member for a Sustainable City, Newcastle City Council said: “This new service is part of our commitment to combat climate change and improve recycling rates across the city. By introducing this trial, we are helping to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill which helps to improve our environment. We would like to thank all the residents taking part for their support with this new service and we hope everyone will cooperate in the future to help us to recycle more for Newcastle.”

Cllr Irim Ali, Cabinet Member for a Resilient City, Newcastle City Council said: “Food waste collections are set to become mandatory for all local authorities and we are proud to be launching this trial in Newcastle. The trial demonstrates our commitment to improving recycling across the city and will ensure that the future roll out of this scheme will be done in the most efficient and effective way.”

Food waste makes up around a third of the average household waste bin. This trial will allow all cooked and uncooked waste to be recycled, it just needs to be removed from any packaging.

Residents will be provided with everything they need to make recycling their food waste as easy as possible. Food waste simply needs to be collected in the new kitchen caddy, using the free caddy bags provided, and then transferred to a new outdoor food waste bin, which will be collected weekly on their normal bin collection day. 

Residents who are taking part in the trial will be contacted by letter and will receive two new containers and caddy bags from the week commencing 9th September, Collections for the trial will begin the 17th September with the aim to roll it out to the whole city in 2026.