Recycling officers visit East Riding towns to mark Food Waste Action Week

Recycling officers will be visiting various towns in the East Riding next week to mark Food Waste Action Week.

The three officers from East Riding of Yorkshire Council will be holding drop-in sessions in Goole, Withernsea, Pocklington, Hedon, Hornsea, Beverley and Driffield to offer advice to residents and answer questions about recycling food waste and how to make meals go further.

People can also pick up food waste recycling starter packs (kitchen caddy and caddy liners) or caddy liners at each of the events.

National Food Waste Action Week is running from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 March and aims to encourage people to make more of their food to help save money, cut down on food waste and therefore help the environment.

The visits follow the council’s introduction of weekly food waste collections for two-thirds of the East Riding in February, to comply with a Government requirement that food waste must be collected from households each week.

The weekly collections will be rolled out to the final third of East Riding homes in February 2027.

As part of Food Waste Action Week, waste and recycling officers will be visiting:

• Monday 9 March, from 10am to 3pm – Goole town centre pedestrian area, Boothferry Road.
• Monday 9 March, 9.30am to 1pm – Withernsea Library and Customer Service Centre, Queen Street.
• Tuesday 10 March, 9am to 4pm – Pocklington market, Market Place.
• Tuesday 10 March, 1pm to 5pm – Hedon Library and Customer Service Centre, St Augustine’s Gate.
• Tuesday 10 March, 10am to 4pm – Hornsea Hub, Broadway.
• Wednesday 11 March, 10am-2pm – Beverley Library, Champney Road, Beverley.
• Thursday 12 March, 10am to 4pm – Driffield Library and Customer Service Centre, Cross Hill.

Councillor Paul West, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “I would encourage people to go along to the drop-ins and get the chance to talk to our waste and recycling officers.

“They can answer any questions people have on the recent launch of weekly brown bin collections, give recycling advice and offer tips on how stop throwing away good food and ways to make it go further.”

According to Food Waste Action Week, each year, households in the UK throw away:

• 4.4 million tonnes of edible food,

• That is worth £17.5 billion,

• For a family of four, that’s around £1,000 wasted every year,
• Creating 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information and to order a food waste recycling starter pack, visit the website www.eastriding.gov.uk/foodwaste