Food waste recycling rolled out in Lewisham schools

28 schools are currently taking part in the roll out and the Council is looking for more schools to register for food waste collections.

Last week, Councillor Louise Krupski, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Action, visited Rathfern Primary School to launch food waste recycling in Lewisham schools and call for more schools to register for collections.

Councillor Krupski met with school staff and spoke with Theron Mahoney - a pupil at the school and keen environmental campaigner. They discussed the positive impact food waste recycling is already having and how this is stimulating conversations about the environment across the school.

Like food waste collected from Lewisham’s homes, school food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion and converted into renewable energy and fertiliser. Just one lorry load of food waste can generate enough energy to power over 20,000 TVs for an hour.

Increasing food waste recycling is a significant step towards reducing Lewisham’s emissions and helping achieve net-zero by 2030. Recycling food waste also saves the Council money, meaning more resources are available to support frontline services and local communities.

Maria Georgiou, a member of the Play Team at Rathfern, commented:

“We use the food waste bins at the breakfast club. Seeing what we’re throwing away helps us to understand what the children like and what is thrown away. This is helping us plan what we offer at the breakfast club and reduce waste. It is great that to know that more schools will be able to access the service.”

Councillor Louise Krupski, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Action, said:

“Food waste collections at our schools are already helping to increase recycling rates. Rolling collections out to more schools is an excellent opportunity to involve young people in making Lewisham a cleaner, greener borough.”

Food waste recycling in Lewisham’s schools is an important step forward in delivering the Council's new Recycling and Reduction Plan, which sets out the Council’s commitments to cut waste and improve recycling rates over the coming years. Reducing waste and boosting recycling is an important of the Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan, which aims to make Lewisham a net-zero borough by 2030.