Food waste recycling public survey 2022

Food waste recycling survey

Introduction

Our project team have been calling on households in Oxfordshire to complete a survey about food waste recycling. Where our project team weren't able to speak to anyone at the time of their visit, we have produced this quick survey for those households to complete online.

The survey is open until 31 October 2022 and only needs to be completed once. We encourage you to read the supporting information below, and documents provided, before having your say.

What is food waste?

All cooked and raw food waste can be recycled using your food caddy. This includes meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products, tea bags and coffee grounds. Food waste includes unavoidable food waste such as onion skins, banana peel and bones as well as things like plate scrapings and gone off or mouldy food.

Why should I recycle my food waste?

Oxfordshire residents already recycle around 25,000 tonnes of food waste every year – this is the same weight as more than 4,000 elephants or two and a half Eiffel Towers.

Despite this excellent work, around 50% of food waste produced by Oxfordshire residents is not recycled and instead this is ending up in their general rubbish bins. By encouraging everyone to recycle their food waste, Oxfordshire County Council would save around £2.5 million each year.

What is a general rubbish bin?

General rubbish bins are for non-recyclable waste only. This includes common items e.g. film from the top of plastic trays, empty fruit, veg and salad bags plastic bags, plastic pouches etc.

Where does my food recycling go?

Food waste collected for recycling in Oxfordshire is all processed in county, at one of Severn Trent Green Power’s Anaerobic Digestion Facilities.

It is processed in a series of large seal vats or “digestors”, where it is heated and stirred for 90 days. This process releases methane and converts the food waste to a valuable fertiliser, which is pasteurised and stored on-site for up to six months and then sold to the farming industry.

The methane gas produced by the process is piped to an on-site engine to generate electricity which is fed into the National Grid - the two plants we use in Oxfordshire generate enough electricity to power around 9,000 homes - equivalent to a town the size of Grove.

A by product of this process is a rich liquid fertiliser that can be used on farm fields to help grow more food, so starting the food cycle all over again

Watch a video on the process (right click and open a new tab so you don’t lose this page)

Please click on the 'Take survey' button below.