Food Waste Collection

Hi there,
In a bid to lower my carbon footprint I’m looking for some advice about food waste.
Unfortunately, as I live in a a purpose built flat complex I am not able to have one of the council food waste bins. I have asked lewisham about this and have had no explanation why so if anyone could shed some light that would be great.
But, does anyone know if there are local places/allotments/businesses I can take food waste to? I’m based on David’s Road but would happily take it anywhere.

Thanks,
Georgia

Thats odd. I’m also in a purpose built block and Lewisham supplied each flat with a countertop bin and a number of larger bins to be stored in the communal bin area. It’s a block of 10 flats so maybe they only offer this service for smaller blocks

I’m only in a block of 5 and we’re told we wouldn’t get one.
It’s very frustrating

I have given up using mine. At the moment it is full as they haven’t collected it again (a regular occurrence) so it will be fetid and disgusting by next week. When they do manage to collect it they just literally throw it back into the front garden which damages the bin and anything stuck in it is spread over the path.
I have complained but that just resulted in me finding the bin upside down on the pavement outside my house with the contents spread everywhere. Just last week my neighbours bin was emptied on to the road.
It is a very poor service especially as they only collect rubbish every two weeks…

That is such a shame. It must be down though who works the route. On Sunderland Road our food waste is collected every week and the pail placed at the edge of the property.

You should complain.

I love having food waste strewn across our footpaths for weeks (it never gets picked up). The over flowing black bins torn apart by foxes. The piles of other recycling that get left next to the green bins and never picked up.

It’s just wonderful this whole waste collection model that Lewisham currently operates. Makes the area a wonderful place to live and for children to walk in the streets.

No I agree the issues with the black bins are awful. My road at the moment looks like a hovel, especially as there are houses and buildings (especially the nursery below me) who leave so much rubbish out on the road.
However, on the food waste topic, does anyone know of anyone who would want food waste? I’m thinking people with allotments or local businesses?

For the past four collections, we’ve found that the guys collecting our (paid for) garden waste bin have been tipping food waste stuff on top of our garden waste, so I presume the whole mixture gets tipped into garden waste, wherever that goes.
Does anyone know if this is supposed to happen?

(And to keep vaguely on topic, we’ve given up on using the food waste bin, as it got badly cracked and was never replace, despite reporting it twice.)

I have complained a couple of times but to no avail. Most of my waste goes to compost anyway but bones and waste with lots of seeds was going in the waste bin.
I stopped using it for a while but recently started again with some hope it may be better… disappointed to see nothing has improved

Over Christmas I recall they allowed putting food waste into the garden waste, so it is probably true that they go to the same place.

I would personally prefer always putting food waste into the brown bin as that avoids all the issues of waste being spilled or not collected as mentioned here. I’d even be happy for my neighbours to put their food waste into my brown bin to avoid their spills too, in case they don’t have a garden waste subscription - normally that wheelie bin is far from full.

I don’t have a brown bin either. Just black and green. That was why I was asking if there was anywhere I can take this kind of waste

I think you might struggle to find someone. I “work” at two allotment sites and we don’t take brown waste on either site. On one site we are more than happy to take delivery of stuff like spend hops, animal bedding and other easily compostable items but stuff like tree prunings take far too long to compost and really need a managed facility. It’s a shame as previously Lewisham operated a few satellite centres where you could take your garden waste - then they realised they could charge for it and stopped. You can still take garden waste to the recycling centre on Landmann Way…

Oh thats good to know! I’m assuming Landmann Way will also take food waste too?

Food waste is not on the list

Oh how annoying, we’ll i guess I’ll just have to keep putting it to landfill.
It’s such a shame that we have the incentive in the borough but it doesn’t seems to be for everyone.

I also live in a purpose built block of 5 flats which hasn’t been supplied with the food waste bins. When the changes were first announced I called Lewisham Council and was told that for purpose built blocks no changes were being made and we would continue to have a weekly collection of our black bins. But that didn’t happen! When I then queried why we weren’t still getting weekly collections I was told I’d been misinformed and it was only blocks with communal bins that were collected weekly. On the Lewisham Council website they advise private blocks need to get their freeholder or managing agent to request communal bins but that’s only for general waste and recycling. But they’re the bins you see on social housing estates and they’re huge so for small blocks there could well be a space issue of where to put them. Luckily we still have some of the original larger black bins and just about manage to cope with the fortnightly collection.

It’s just ridiculous how every single week there are bin issues in this Borough. Overflowing or spilt bins or people dumping stuff everywhere. Just drives me up the wall.