A new ‘on-demand’ food waste service has been launched in St James’s, West End and Marylebone wards for residents who can only place their food bin directly onto the pavement due to a lack of external space.

Residents will be able to book a 2-hour slot for food waste to be directly collected from the communal front door of their property to minimise the time that bins are left out. This is the first time the council has operated an ‘on demand’ service and Council officers are currently exploring further potential uses for this technology (e.g., collecting hazardous household waste, small electrical appliances etc.).

The Westminster-wide roll-out of a food waste collection service has now been completed with 68,000 households having direct access to the service. The on-street food waste bins in areas where residents could not have a ‘doorstep collection’ have been a particular success and bin collection frequencies have been increased to 2-3 times per week to manage the large quantities of food waste being deposited.

An additional 8 new food waste neighbourhood bin sites were installed in July based on suggestions from residents and Members bringing the total to 39 neighbourhood sites across 16 wards.