Case Study Highlights
| Project | London Borough of Lambeth & ReLondon |
| Client | ReLondon & Lambeth Council |
| Scope | metroSTOR FX Food Waste Bin Housing |
Re London is a partnership of the Mayor of London and the London boroughs to improve waste and resource management and transform the city into a leading low carbon circular economy. ReLondon along with other partners have created a project to introduce new recycling and food waste facilities across four Lambeth housing estates on a trial basis, with the results set to be shared and replicated more widely across the UK.
Councillor Dr. Mahamed Hashi, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Transport, Environment and Clean Air at Lambeth Council, said: “We need swift action to make it easier for people in flats to recycle, and to ensure that every London resident has access to appropriate recycling services, wherever they live. We hope that these simple steps introduced in Lambeth will have a significant positive impact – and that we can share the results more widely to help address a UK-wide issue.”
The aim of the project is to increase resident participation in recycling, reduce the amount of food waste, textile waste and waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) going to landfill, and to form a strategy that can be rolled out to other estates within the borough. Comprehensive research on boosting recycling in purpose-built flats reported that London flats had 50% less recycling rates compared to individual properties.
Providing effective communal food waste facilities for those in flatted accommodation often remains a challenge. The requirement to handle bin lids when disposing of food waste can discourage resident participation leading to food waste being mixed in with general waste disposal. This combined with the ongoing concerns around Covid-19 meant a different approach was needed.
As part of this project thirty five metroSTOR FX food waste bin housings were specified to overcome any potential concerns by isolating residents from the bin container and offering touch free access with the foot pedal option. The daily task becomes less onerous with residents able to place their food waste directly into the container without touching the bin or the lid. The design also limits odours and other undesirable side effects as the food waste deposits start to degrade within the bin, by ensuring the food waste container is kept enclosed as soon as the food waste has been deposited.
The robust and easy to use bin housings blend naturally with their surrounding environment in the chosen finish of Firenze Anthracite Grey and Forest Panel infill, with clear signage added for ease of use.
Re London will be publishing the full data in the next few months, initial feedback has been extremely positive.
*ReLondon has released a full report on their Flats 2.0 research project. Partnered with housing association Peabody and the London Borough of Lambeth, and funded by the Ecosurety Exploration Fund, the project explored new approaches to increasing recycling rates from multi family housing.
The 13-month pilot scheme resulted in an average 152% increase in recycling rates, rising from a baseline of 11% to 27%. An impressive 45% reduction in food waste within the residual waste stream was partly achieved through the use of metroSTOR FX food waste housings – the touch-free operation making it easier for residents to participate, with residents surveyed saying they were recycling more or a lot more than before, mainly as a result of food waste recycling.
Overall, residents viewed the service changes as positive, with three-quarters of residents surveyed saying they were recycling more or a lot more than before, mainly as a result of the introduction of food waste recycling. In particular, residents commented that they felt the bin stores and bin areas were cleaner, tidier and more inviting and intuitive to use than they were before. Some residents also said they liked that there were now more bins (increasing the capacity) and that the bins were now closer to their block. The interventions worked particularly well for those who were already engaged with recycling to at least some degree, with the majority reporting increased recycling behaviours.
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