Every home in Exeter can now have food waste collected from the kerbside, Exeter City Council has revealed.
The City Council said that it had completed its rollout of the scheme and 60,810 homes were now receiving weekly collections.
The service prevents food waste from being thrown away in black bins and increases the city’s recycling rate.
The collected food waste is diverted to anaerobic digestion, where it ends up as a soil improver and fertiliser, as well as generating electricity.
Cllr Ruth Williams, Lead Councillor for City Management, said she was delighted the rollout had been completed: “It’s been a challenging task to enable food waste collections for every home in Exeter, so I am relieved that we are finally over the line and everyone can now enjoy the service.”
To ensure every home received a food waste collection, extra vehicles have had to be purchased and the waste depot has had to have some modifications to enable the tipping of waste whilst ambitious plans for a new Materials Reclamation Facility come to fruition
There have also been nationwide issues with the supply of food waste containers and caddies. However, Exeter is one of the 75% of authorities that has delivered food waste collections before the government deadline of 31 March 2026.
“It’s been a big effort to get to this stage and I would like to pay tribute to all the staff at the City Council for making this happen and to the people of Exeter for remaining patient and sticking with us along the way. The phased rollout has enabled us to deliver the service cost effectively, designing rounds to maximise efficiency,” added Cllr Williams.
All homes in Exeter have been provided with a 23-litre kerbside caddy and one five-litre kitchen caddy. Some properties with communal waste collections have been provided with a brown wheelie bin labelled food waste. The food waste is then collected every week.
FAQs and useful information about the service can be found on the City Council website, along with the latest A-Z of recycling.
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