Council to invest in 60,000 food waste caddies to improve recycling

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FOOD waste caddies will be delivered to thousands of households in Warrington from next year to help improve waste recycling across the town.

Warrington Borough Council’s Cabinet agreed the approval of 60,000 caddies to be distributed to residents from April 2026.

Cllr John Kerr-Brown told councillors that as part of the Environmental Act 2001, Part 3 Managing Waste, local authorities are “responsible for the introduction of a domestic weekly food collection set or to all residents.”
He said the Act mandates that each residential property must receive a weekly food waste collection service.
And the Act acknowledges the difficulties for residents living in flats and other communal properties.
Residents will be given five-litre kitchen caddies and external 23 to 25-litre caddies for weekly food waste collections in 15 months’ time.
He explained that Warrington Council was successful in receiving a food waste collection grant totalling £1.863m from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2024 to support and deliver the collection of food waste.
He said there are 98,000 residential properties across Warrington “this is a mix of detached and semi-detached houses, terrace properties and flats.
“It’s proposed that an initial order of 60,000 caddies will be placed in order to commence the rollout.
“A further order of 15,000 caddies will be placed within three to six months to further expand the rollout to residents, therefore meeting the objectives of the Act.”

Cllr Maureen McLaughlin said food waste is already collected in many other areas but acknowledged that it may lead to “head scratching” for some.
She explained that food waste on landfill was bad for Greenhouse gases in that it produces methane.
“I know it will be difficult for some people to grasp any change in their habits,” she said, “I remember when blue bins came in and some people were not happy about having to sort their recycling.”
She urged residents to see the value and urged the council to adopt a good communication strategy over the proposals.
The proposal was unanimously backed by Cabinet members.


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