'Power Up' with food recycling, the Love Essex initiative

The design used for this campaign incorporates a fun, video game theme. In video games, a ‘power up' refers to when you gain extra benefits or abilities.

A weekly food waste collection is more frequent than your non-recyclable waste collection and removes the food from your home quicker. This means 'game over' for unpleasant smells that hang around your home.

‘Power Up’ is also a play on words relating to food waste going to anaerobic digestion where it is turned into energy to power homes, as well as fertiliser for farms in Essex.

The campaign will start across the Braintree district from Monday, 28 September 2026 until November. Households will receive a reminder sticker on their non-recyclable waste bin, a leaflet with food recycling tips and a one-off roll of compostable food caddy liners.

D2D Distribution Ltd will deliver the leaflet and compostable liners through letterboxes and place reminder stickers on non-recyclable waste bins. Staff will wear identifiable uniform and will not knock on doors.

No, but there are many benefits to using the service, such as weekly collections, reducing the amount of waste in your non-recyclable waste bin and helping your food to be turned into energy and fertiliser. Find out what goes in the food caddy.

Food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion, (AD,) facility in Dagenham to be transformed into energy for homes and businesses, and fertiliser for Essex farms. Visit the Love Essex website for more information.

We are so glad to hear that you are already recycling your food waste. Please enjoy using the roll of free compostable liners and reading the information leaflet that includes tips and information so that you can stay up to date.

We want your help to say “Game Over!” to smelly bins by keeping food out of non-recyclable waste bins. Food waste is collected weekly, so it is removed from your home more quickly. If food is put in the non-recyclable waste bin instead, it can sit there for up to three weeks before collection, which can cause unpleasant odours.

Yes, you do not need a specific council supplied indoor food caddy to be able to use the food waste collection service. You can use any suitable container such as a used ice cream tub, empty mushroom punnet, or an indoor food caddy bought from a shop that matches your kitchen decor. You can put one of the free supplied compostable liners in this container. Tie the compostable liner and transfer it to your outdoor food caddy for weekly collection. To order your outdoor food caddy, please visit the Love Essex website.

Yes, the caddy liners that you will receive are compostable.

Every household with a non-recyclable waste bin will be receiving a free one-off roll of compostable liners. If you choose not to use them, you can give them to a neighbour or friend.

For your outdoor food caddy, make sure the lid is securely locked, you can use compostable liners to help contain food waste and keep in a shaded location where possible. Rinsing it occasionally, or leaving the lid open to air when empty, can also help keep it clean and fresh.

When food is collected by your food waste collection service, it is taken to an anaerobic digestion (AD,) facility in Dagenham.

Anything that is not food, such as compostable liners or packaging, is separated from the load. Food is then processed and transformed into a biogas and fertiliser. This biogas is used to generate energy that can be used to power homes. The fertiliser is used on Essex farms. To find out more about this process, watch What happens to your food waste in Essex?

After the food arrives at the anaerobic digestion (AD) plant and it has been weighed, tipped out and inspected, it is then turned into a ‘soup’. This is then fed into an enclosed oxygen-free tank, where it’s broken down by microorganisms. This lets off a low-carbon biogas, which is transformed into energy that can be used to power our homes and businesses.

After this process, we are left with a material called biofertiliser, which is rich in nutrients and is a sustainable alternative to chemical fertiliser. This biofertiliser is then supplied to local agriculture customers and farmers to improve soil health and to grow more food. A great example of the circular economy in action.

Your food waste is collected weekly. Your non-recyclable waste bin is collected every three weeks, so removing food will keep this bin fresher for longer. It also lets your leftover food have a purpose; when recycled it is turned into energy for homes and fertiliser for Essex farms.

Your outdoor food caddy won’t smell any worse than if you were to put food in your non-recyclable waste bin. With food waste collected every week, those smells will be gone faster than with less frequent non-recyclable waste bin collections.

If you take care of your indoor food caddy by cleaning it often and regularly transferring the food into your outdoor food caddy, this will help to reduce any potential smells.

There is no amount too small - every crumb counts. The best thing we can do with our food is enjoy it, but some wasted food is inevitable and should be recycled in an outdoor food caddy. Home composting is also a great option for suitable uncooked food waste, but your food waste collection service can take a wider range of food, including cooked food, meat, fish and bones..

Love Essex have an initiative at the moment for a reduced cost home compost bin, which can be purchased on the Love Essex website.

Outdoor food caddies will attract no more pests than your non-recyclable waste bin, and potentially fewer as food waste is collected weekly. Outdoor food caddies are designed with a secure locking lid or handle to help prevent wildlife from accessing the contents, so it is important to make sure the caddy is properly closed after each use.

This campaign is part of our mission to reduce the amount of food that goes into non-recyclable waste which is more expensive to process than recycling. Recycling food waste not only saves money on waste disposal but also helps generate renewable energy and nutrient-rich fertiliser. This campaign is tried and tested and successfully increased food recycling rates in nine areas across Essex in 2023.

The compostable caddy liners are 7 litre capacity on a roll of 52 and are designed for an indoor food caddy. Compostable liners don’t have to be used at all, although some people find they make it easier to contain food and keep the caddy clean. You can also use paper to line the caddy or put food waste into the outdoor food caddy loose.

Compostable liners are optional and are not required to use the food waste collection service. Residents can place food waste directly into their kitchen caddy, line it with paper, or use their own compostable liners. If residents choose to use a liner, compostable liners are widely available from supermarkets and other retailers. Many residents also choose to use newspaper as a simple, effective and low-cost alternative.

The good news is that whichever method residents choose, food waste can still be recycled into valuable resources such as renewable energy and soil improver.