Last week, at the National Recycling Awards 2023, Westminster City Council in partnership with Veolia, were rewarded for their expansion of food waste collections including two innovative approaches that have increased access for difficult to service properties.

Working in partnership, Westminster City Council and Veolia won Local Authority Success for their industry-leading food waste recycling service. The expansion of the service first trialled in 2019 has to date reached 85% of households with 2,231 tonnes of food waste collected. The project aims to reach 100% of residential properties in 2024 and has so far seen an average increase of 3% on the recycling rate where it has been delivered.

Key to the success of the service and the award win was the focus on two new service models to ensure equity of service access to all property types; A ‘neighbourhood’ service for properties without space for bins, and an ‘on-demand’ service for residents in the busy West End wards.

With around 90% flats and limited space for bins, many properties in Westminster are not suitable for standard kerbside and communal collection models. This combined with a diverse population, with high transience (~30% churn annually), occupying an area receiving over 30,000,000 tourists p.a., was a tough challenge to overcome. To address this the ‘neighbourhood service was introduced. So far 50 neighbourhood bins have been installed in public locations that anyone can access. The location for these bins have been largely community-driven via requests from residents, engagement with resident association representatives, and feedback from ward councillors.

Due to the ‘clean street’ pressures and lack of space for bins across the West End area a ‘first of its kind’ on-demand service was developed, enabling residents to book 2-hour collection slots fulfilled by crews on electric EAV bikes. Together these two additional service types have increased access to food waste collections from 56% to 85% so far, with plans to continue the roll out until all properties have been offered a service.

This project is part of Westminster City Council’s Climate Action Plan bringing into reality a Fairer Environment and Fairer Communities. The Council has outlined an ambitious environmental agenda including a commitment to reach net zero emissions for Westminster by 2040. Westminster’s work with Veolia on improving recycling rates, including food waste recycling, and decarbonising waste collection vehicles is at the heart of plans to tackle the effects of climate change.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Cabinet Member for City Management and Air Quality, said:
“I’m proud of our amazing waste collection teams who keep Westminster’s streets clean and safe every day of the year. This award for Westminster’s Food Waste Recycling scheme is a recognition of their hard work and the council’s efforts to create a greener city for everyone. We know that a key reason for success was the partnership efforts between the Council and residents, and I would also like to thank residents for doing their part to recycle their food waste and support us on our net zero journey.”

Helder Branco, General Manager for Veolia said:
“I am so proud of the whole team who have been working tirelessly over the past two years to deliver this service. Together we have demonstrated that food waste services in challenging urban environments can work, when innovation and resident needs are at the heart of the project. The latest addition to the food waste expansion, the on-demand service, showcases this perfectly and demonstrates our commitment to delivering Ecological Transformation throughout our services.”