November 19th, 2024



A Cabinet councillor has hailed an increase of almost 50% in the amount of food waste taken to be composted by Lewes District Council as ‘a great contribution towards our environmental goals’.

From March to October 2023, the council took just under 497 tonnes of food waste to Woodlands, where the council partners with a composting facility. For the same period in 2024, this increased to 742 tonnes - a rise of 49.34%.

Councillor Wendy Maples, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Wellbeing, (pictured), said: “I want to thank residents who are taking full advantage of our excellent household food waste service for this big, beautiful increase. Their potato peelings, coffee grounds, bones, egg shells and leftovers are being put to active good use, rather than heading for the incinerator.

“I know some residents were mistrustful of the old system of putting food waste into the side containers of the regular waste vehicles, which I completely understand. Seeing that food waste goes directly into a dedicated electric vehicle has brought lots of those residents back to the service.”

This autumn the council wants to encourage even more residents to recycle their food waste using its free service.

Councillor Maples added: “Environmentally, and for your wallet, the best thing is to reduce food waste by buying only as much as you need. The next best thing is to have a composter or wormery; alternatively use our food waste collection service.

“The increase in food waste collected is a result of residents’ positive engagement with the service and improvements we have made to our food waste collection operations, through separate EV collections. If you aren’t one of thousands of households that already benefit from this service, now is the perfect time to sign up.”

People can join for free at www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/foodwaste and will receive two food waste caddies and a roll of specially compostable caddy liners.

Existing customers can also pick up a free roll of caddy liners from locations across Lewes district – see the web page above for a full list.