Food waste

Food Waste collections are coming to Hastings

From March 2026, every council in England will be carrying out weekly food waste collections from households. This is a new legal requirement by the Government.

Food waste collections are an important part of increasing the amount of waste we recycle, reducing our impact on the environment and helping to tackle climate change. Food waste makes up about 30% of the average household waste bin. By using your food caddy, you will free up space in your bin and help cut down on the amount of waste going to incineration.

What happens next?

We are currently delivering the remaining food waste containers to all households in Hastings, together with instructions on how to use them. When yours arrive, please remember not to use them until the week before your collections begin. You will receive a letter with your start date shortly. 

Each home will be given a small food caddy to keep in their kitchen and a larger food waste container for outside which will be collected weekly. You will also be given a roll of compostable liners to get you started. Only food waste contained within compostable liners will be collected.  

If you use communal bins, you will receive a small kitchen caddy and a food wheelie bin with a special lid for your communal bin area for shared use. If you have individual bins in a bin store area and there is enough space, you will be given your own outside food caddy.  

When will food waste collections start?

Food waste collections are starting in phases with the first phase starting the week of Monday 30 March and the next phase beginning two weeks later. You will receive a letter confirming your exact collection day before your collections begin. This may be on a different day to your rubbish and recycling collections, which will continue as normal.    

How will the food waste be collected?

Please place your outside food container out for collection by 7am (or 6am where this is already required) on the day of collection, at the boundary of your property, or at your usual collection point. Collection crews will then empty your outside food waste container.

How to report a missed food waste collection? 

Before reporting a missed food waste collection please use our postcode lookup to check you have the correct collection day. Food waste collections are starting in phases and may be on a different day to your normal collections. You will receive a letter shortly that advises you of your start date for the new service and your collection day. 

If your collection has been missed, you need to let us know either on the collection day or by close of business the next working day. You can report a missed collection on our online form from 8pm on the day of collection until 5pm the next working day. This is the quickest way to report this to us. 

Want to know more?

To find out more about the new food waste service, please visit our FAQs page.