Refuse and Waste

Marks Gate Kitchen Waste Collection and Composting Scheme

In partnership with the East London Community Recycling Partnership, we have introduced a new kitchen waste collection and composting scheme for flats in Marks Gate. The scheme started on 22 May 2006 and ran until December 2007.

East London Community Recycling Partnership is a not for profit community organisation, set up in 2001 to pioneer recycling in inner city estates. They have won 2 awards for their groundbreaking food waste composting scheme in the London Borough of Hackney.

How does the weekly kitchen waste collections work?

List of flats on the scheme|

See the list of flats that can take part in the scheme and find out if you can get involved.

Households on the scheme are provided with compostable bin liners and kitchen bins. Kitchen waste including peelings, egg-shells and the 'scrapings off plates' including cooked meat, fish and gravy can be put in the bins.

Residents are asked to regularly sprinkle small amounts of an organic substance which stops food waste from putrefying and smelling. This substance is given to residents regularly alongside new supplies of compostable bin liners.

On collection days, East London Community Recycling Partnership staff collect the food waste in the bin liners, leaving the kitchen bins behind for residents to use again.

How does the food waste get composted?

The food waste collected is composted locally in 5 formally derelict garages on the Marks Gate Estate. The garages were given to East London Community Recycling Partnership for the scheme. The garages have been refurbished and 2 specialised composting machines, also known as 'Rockets' have been installed.

Food waste fed into the Rockets is transformed into compost in around 14 days. The composting process is clean and does not make make noise or create smells.

What are the benefits to residents?

No rotting waste in bins or in estate chutes
No unpleasant waste odours
Rats, flies, bluebottles and maggots are deterred
Natural compost and fertiliser are produced. This can be used to green the local area

Why did we do it?

This scheme is for flats which traditionally do not enjoy the same kind of door-to-door collection services as houses for their refuse and recyclables
This scheme is a closed-loop system. This means that waste collected from flats is composted on the estate and the compost given to residents and used back on the estate to improve its amenity value. There is no transport involved
The project employs a full-time project manager and 2 collectors from Barking and Dagenham
Volunteering opportunities will be created for those who wish to improve the estate
If only 50% of residents participate in the scheme, 105 tonnes of organic waste will be removed from the waste stream and composted annually

Who is funding the scheme?

The scheme is funded for an initial 2 year period by the Big Lottery Fund's Community Recycling and Economic Development Programme. We provide match funding as well as continuing support to the project. As well as running the scheme, East London Community Recycling Partnership is providing in-kind contributions such as composting expertise, seminars and workshops.

A local resident feeding her kitchen waste into the Rocket

Local resident feeding her kitchen waste into the Rocket alongside the former borough Mayor, Councillor Dee Hunt and East London Community Recycling Partnership project manager Cam Matheson.

Contact

Sheila Kearney

Project Leader

East London Community Recycling Partnership

Marks Gate Community Centre

Rose Lane

Chadwell Heath

RM6 5NJ

Tel: 020 8227 6984

Email: sheilakearney@hotmail.com|