Food Waste Action Week

Making a few simple changes to reduce the amount of food we waste at home can help to save money and protect the planet. From 9 to 15 March 2026, Cheshire West and Chester Council is supporting Food Waste Action Week and encouraging all residents to recycle their unused food instead of throwing it away.

From 31 March, it will be the law for councils to collect food waste recycling from all households. The Council has been doing this weekly since 2012 but is working hard with our Council-owned waste collection company, Cheshire West Recycling (CWR), to make sure all homes have a brown food caddy.

Most unused food can be recycled, including bread, cakes, pastries, cheese, butter, eggs and their shells, fruit and vegetables, meat and fish including bones, rice, pasta, beans, tea bags, coffee grounds, uneaten pet food.

Recycled food waste becomes green energy, as well as fertiliser for use on farmland, which can support communities and help to tackle climate change.

It isn’t just the planet that benefits either. Recycling your food waste at home means cleaner bins, fewer smells, and can help people to save money by thinking more about how much food they need.

Food Waste Action Week is a national campaign developed by the Waste Resource Action Programme (WRAP) as part of Love Food Hate Waste to raise the profile of food wastage. This year’s theme, “Make Your Food Go Fuuuuuuuurther: for your pocket, for our planet”, focuses on preventing food waste by using up leftovers, and recycling anything that can’t be eaten, to unlock more value from the food we already have by helping it to stretch further.

WRAP estimates that 4.4 million tonnes of food is wasted every year from UK homes, worth around £17.5 billion. For an average UK family of four, that is around £1,000 wasted every year.

Most households already have a brown caddy, but if you don’t, you can order one for free by calling us on 0300 123 7026 or online on the CWAC website

Residents can visit the Love Food Hate Waste website for useful bespoke tips and guidance on how to avoid creating food waste:
here

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