Every Redbridge house not yet on food waste collections joins in November or December. Letters land October to November. Flats come later, separately.
Every house in Redbridge that does not yet have a food waste collection will get one in November or December. The council announced the dates on 17 September.
About 10,000 households have had the weekly service since last November. The rest of the borough’s houses have been waiting for it since then. Flats are not in this round. They join later, in a separate phased rollout.
What happens and when
The council’s announcement sets out three steps:
- Now: nothing to do. The council says it is “just giving you a heads up”.
- October to November: a letter arrives by post. It says when your caddies will be delivered and when collections start.
- November to December: collections begin at every remaining house.
You can check your own start date with the council’s collection checker. Do not worry if it shows nothing yet. The council’s food waste page says a start date appears there two months before the service reaches your address.
For flats, the council says it will contact “flat owners directly, closer to when their food waste collections will start”. It has not given a date.
What you get
When the service reaches your street, the council says you will receive:
- a small kitchen caddy
- an introductory roll of liners
- a larger outdoor caddy
- instructions for using the service
The outdoor caddy locks. The council says this keeps foxes out, as long as the lid sits flush before you lock it.
Food waste is collected weekly. It goes out at the boundary of your property by 6am on your normal collection day. Your rubbish and recycling collections do not change. Food waste is an extra collection, not a replacement for anything.
What goes in the caddy
The council’s food waste page accepts all cooked and uncooked food. That includes:
- plate scrapings
- meat, fish and bones, raw or cooked
- fruit and vegetables, raw or cooked
- eggs and eggshells, cheese and other dairy food
- bread, cakes, pastries and biscuits
- rice, pasta and beans
- tea bags and coffee grounds
Keep out oils, liquid fat, liquids such as milk, garden waste, animal bedding and any packaging. The page says a single plastic, paper or biodegradable liner is accepted. That is looser than the council’s 2025 launch notice, which ruled out plastic bags other than special food waste liners.
How the first phase went
The council gave its own figures for the first 10,000 households. Cllr Jo Blackman, the cabinet member for environment, said:
- nearly 80% of those households now regularly use their caddy
- more than 400 tonnes of food waste have been collected so far
- the energy produced is enough to heat around 40 average UK homes for a year
The waste goes to an anaerobic digestion plant in Dagenham. It is broken down into biogas for electricity and heat, and into a fertiliser for farmland.
The council says around 40% of the household waste it collects is food. That is the case it makes for the service, alongside cost savings and the law.
Why it has taken this long
The law set a deadline Redbridge has already passed. Under the government’s Simpler Recycling reforms, councils in England were required to introduce weekly food waste collections “for most homes” by 31 March 2026, “unless a transitional arrangement applies”. The same policy allows a longer implementation period where long-term waste disposal contracts get in the way.
Redbridge’s explanation is supply. Its food waste page says councils across the country are introducing the service at the same time. That demand for specialist vehicles and containers “is taking longer than usual” to meet. It says it secured enough containers for 10,000 households first. The council has not said whether a transitional arrangement applies to Redbridge.
What it means for you
- If you live in a house and have no caddy yet, watch for a letter in October or November. Your collections should start in November or December.
- Check your start date on the council’s collection checker. It appears there two months ahead.
- If you live in a flat, nothing changes this year as far as the council has said. It will contact flat owners nearer the time.
- If you are already in the first phase, nothing changes for you.
- If a food waste collection is missed, report it online.
Our Ilford bin collection days page covers every Redbridge collection, including the recycling boxes and garden waste sacks.
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