Food and Garden Waste

Organics waste includes garden waste, food waste and other forms of biodegradable waste. Much of this – food waste in particular – is avoidable, with 6.6 million tonnes of avoidable household food waste being thrown away each year at an average annual cost of £720 per family. This waste produces 16.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) emissions, comparable to the emissions produced by one in four cars on UK roads.

You can reduce the amount of food you throw out by learning more about food waste, how to make food last longer and how to dispose of food waste in an environmentally responsible way.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) figures reveal that, in the UK, over 96 per cent of local councils operate a kerbside garden waste collection. In Northern Ireland, all local councils provide this service free of charge. All of N.Ireland's local authorities offer a food waste collection service for households, as opposed to the UK average of 60 per cent.

When collected for recycling, organic waste can be put to a variety of uses.  Composting produces useful products such as biofertilisers and biogas, through in-vessel composting, open-air windrow composting, or anaerobic digestion (where organic matter is decomposed in a container without oxygen). Recycling just one tonne of food waste through anaerobic digestion can generate around 300kWh of energy – enough to charge around 5,500 iPads.

You can learn more about how to recycle organic waste, such as food waste and garden waste, on the Recycle Now website.