To make sure our waste collection service is fit for the future, we've made changes to bin collections from Monday 8 April 2024. This includes a subscription service for garden waste collections.
Wheeled bins will be collected on your usual day around the May bank holidays, including collections on the bank holiday Mondays.
Since 19 June 2023 we've provided a food waste collection service for a limited number of households in Thurrock. We're doing this in a limited way – a 'pilot scheme' – so we can make sure it's a success before providing it to all Thurrock households.
Streets taking part in the pilot scheme are listed at the end of this page.
We plan to provide this service to all Thurrock households later in 2024.
Each household is given:
Leave your food recycling bin out with your other bins on your usual collection day each week.
You must make sure the lid of the bin is fully closed. We'll remove all the tied liner bags from inside and take them away for recycling.
Never leave bags of food waste outside your food recycling bin – we will not collect food waste left outside your food recycling bin.
When your first roll of compostable bags has been used, you can buy more compostable bags from local shops or you can fold food waste carefully in newspaper.
You must not use ordinary plastic bags for food waste, only compostable bags.
You can recycle all types of solid food waste as long as you remove the packaging. This includes eggshells, bones and teabags.
You must not use your food recycling bin for:
Use our A to Z of waste and recyclable items to check what you can put in each of your bins.
As your kitchen caddy is smaller than your ordinary waste bin, you can empty it more often. This will help to avoid any unwanted smells.
Using a liner and washing out your caddy regularly will also help prevent smells.
You can prevent your food waste from attracting flies by:
It's most important to follow the advice above during hot weather. If you don't follow this advice and food waste is left in the open, it may attract flies that lay eggs and produce maggots.
The food waste we collect gets broken down to create methane gas. This methane is stored and safely converted into a type of gas that can be used to make electricity, heat or transport fuels. Any remaining waste can be recycled as a fertiliser for crops or for land regeneration.
If food waste goes to landfill instead of being recycled, it rots and releases methane into the air. When methane is in the atmosphere it can be 2.5 times more harmful than carbon dioxide as a 'greenhouse' gas. As these gases build up, they can trap too much of the sun's heat and lead to dangerous climate change.
If your food recycling bin was put out for collection before 6am on your collection day but it is not collected and no explanation is given, you can report it the next day as a missed bin.
When you report a missed food bin you may receive an automated email saying we'll return for the missed bin on your next collection day. For food recycling bins, however, we intend to return within 2 working days (Monday to Friday, unless collection days are changed for public holidays) from the day you report it.
We sent a letter and leaflet to households taking part in the pilot scheme, sharing the information on this web page. If you lose your leaflet, we cannot provide a replacement printed leaflet but you can download a copy below.
Food waste collections
During the pilot scheme, food waste collections are limited to 6,000 properties in the streets listed below. Flats and some other properties in these streets will not be part of the pilot scheme.
Aveley:
Bulphan:
Grays:
Orsett:
Purfleet-on-Thames:
Stanford-le-Hope:
Tilbury:
West Horndon:
West Thurrock:
