A Government initiative will see food waste collected weekly from every household in Stafford Borough this year.

The national move is aimed at increasing the amount of food households across the country currently recycle. The Government has told all local councils that they must have a separate weekly kerbside food waste service from April 2026.

Residents will be receiving two new containers for their leftover food for the new weekly collection service. A small internal seven-litre kitchen caddy, a larger 23-litre external kerbside caddy, and a roll of liners will be delivered to approximately 60,000 households across the borough before April along with detailed instructions of how the new service will work.

There will be no additional charge to borough residents for the equipment or the service - with the kerbside caddy to be collected alongside the green, blue and brown bins. The food waste will go to an ‘anaerobic digestion’ plant to be converted into energy and the digestate produced used in agriculture to improve soil.

Food waste makes up around a third of household rubbish which is currently incinerated with the average household throwing away around £800 of edible grub each year.

The borough already recycles around 45 percent of what households throw out.

Cabinet Member for Environment at the borough council, Ian Fordham, said: “The Government requires all councils to provide this separate food collection in what will be a major change to our waste and recycling service.

“The new service has been funded by central Government and will be run alongside our residents’ usual recycling and waste collection days.”

Among the items that can go in the new caddies are:

• Fruit and vegetables - including peelings.
• Fish, meat and bones.
• Tea bags and coffee grounds.
• Eggs and dairy products.

The caddies cannot be used for liquids, oils or fats, garden waste or food packaging.

See more information on the new service at www.staffordbc.gov.uk/food-waste

Press Release No 6264