Best food waste collection improvement in Kent
Published
Friday 3 July, 2026
Updated
Friday 3 July, 2026
People in Swale saved an extra 1,100 tonnes of food from going to waste last year, achieving the best increase in Kent.
Swale Borough Council collected 41% more food waste from food caddies in Swale – equivalent to an extra 183 million eggshells - between April 2025 and March 2026 compared to the previous year.
The average increase across Kent during the same period was 18%.
Council crews empty the food waste bins every week into separate compartments on their collection vehicles.
The waste then travels to a local processing plant which uses a natural breakdown process to turn the leftover food into gas.
This gas generates electricity for the National Grid to power local homes.
The leftover material creates a nutrient-rich organic fertiliser for local farms.
The high demand from residents ordering new bins has caused a slight delay in deliveries, but the council is working hard to get these out to you as soon as possible.
The council asks for patience as staff work through the remaining orders.
“It has been incredible to see the amount of people in Swale ordering and using their free food waste bins, and this buy-in has seen our collections improving the most out of anywhere in Kent!
“Of course, we would love to see less food going uneaten, but the more that is being put in the food waste caddies the less is ending up in our recycling, contaminating and ruining whole loads.
“Even putting it in the general waste means it loses its potential to become fertilisers for our farmers and is less environmentally friendly.
“The food waste service helps you see how much and what food you end up throwing away. This can help you make less wasteful choices when you’re doing your food shop, helping you save money in the long run.
“If we all work together, we can make sure we are getting the most out of all of our waste, whether that is reducing our consumption, recycling correctly to get the most out of our resources or using our food waste service to save the space and smell in your green bin.”
Using a food waste caddy offers residents several benefits:
- it’s collected every week unlike the other bins
- creates more space in the standard green bin
- prevents smelly food from sitting in general waste
- keeps the green bin cleaner
- makes cleaning easier, as the food bin is much smaller
- protects the environment by creating renewable power
- highlights wasted food to help households save money on groceries
The council also promotes the free food waste bins to tackle high levels of contamination in household recycling.
Food waste frequently ruins entire recycling loads. Discarding these rejected loads costs taxpayers thousands of pounds, as burning the spoiled waste costs the council around £2,000 per load.
If crews find food in a recycling bin, they will attach an explanatory tag and leave the bin unemptied.
Crews will only collect the waste at the next scheduled date if the resident removes the spoiling items.
