Councils encourage more Newcastle residents to recycle food waste

A new campaign launched by two councils is encouraging more residents to recycle food waste in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Traditional billboard advertisements, digital displays, leaflets and tailored social media messages are being used by Staffordshire County Council to raise awareness about Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s weekly food waste collection service in specific areas of the borough.
The joint initiative – which runs until April 2025 – highlights how easy it is to use the service and how things like teabags and plate scrapings are used in Staffordshire to make clean electricity for the National Grid as well as a natural, nutrient-rich fertiliser to help local farmers grow more food through a process called anaerobic digestion. Residents are subsequently encouraged to order free food waste caddies.
The campaign, part of the borough council's ongoing efforts to enhance waste management practices and support environmental sustainability, is designed to increase food waste recycling by two per cent over the year.
Simon Tagg, Cabinet Member for the Environment at Staffordshire County Council said:
We are pleased to launch this campaign and thank residents who already recycle their food waste in Newcastle-under-Lyme. We would like to encourage all residents to take part in this important initiative.
By working together, we can all help to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly Staffordshire."
Cllr. David Hutchison, Cabinet member for Sustainable Environment at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, added:
The borough council is pleased to work with the award-winning campaigns team at Staffordshire County Council to encourage even more residents to use our popular food waste service.
We’ve collected food waste separately on a weekly basis for almost 15 years now and work really hard to promote the benefits of using the service, as well as not producing food waste in the first place. It’s very much a part of everyday life for residents: almost half of all households use the service, which is a great achievement, and more than 2,600 tonnes of food waste was recycled last year.
The aim of this latest campaign is to increase food waste recycling in areas of the borough where we know that participation is lower.
Collecting food waste separately in a caddy – instead of the general household bin – is much better for the environment. As the borough council makes further progress on achieving net zero for its own operations and estate by 2030, boosting the recycling of food waste will make a contribution to helping the wider borough do the same by 2050.”
To order a food waste caddy pack, visit: www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk/orderbin