London Environment Strategy consultation

In Greenwich we have green-top bins and that's where all food and garden waste goes. We also have a compost heap in our garden, but due to foxes a normal open compost heap gets raided, so only the closed ones are an option.

What do other boroughs do? Do you have to take your compost and food waste to a special site? Or does it go into the black bin?

I separate my waste into recycling and food waste but find that my weekly grocery shop generates and unbelievable amount of non-recyclable waste. Every piece of fruit and veg comes wrapped in plastic which has to go in the bin, and quite a few products are even double-plastic-wrapped: a non-recyclable plastic box (the hard molded plastic crates that tomatoes and such come in) wrapped in an outer plastic layer. Not to mention buying food from one of the takeaway restaurants like Pret or Eat or Pure: an ordinary lunch from them geneates heaps of packaging that just goes in the bin. I do think that government regulation is needed to force grocery stores and restaurants to reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging they sell their products in: similar to the plastic bag tax.

I don’t think about it as much as I probably should. I sort all my plastic bottles etc leaving my landfill bin almost entirely plastic film which is not recycled in my borough.

Currently we have a tiny green bin for plastics, needs to be much bigger. 

Plastic packaging on food should be reduced. Most is unnecessary. Fruit and veg is fine in paper and cardboard. Bottles should have a deposit for their return whether plastic or glass and reused where possible. Also a deposit on drinks cans to encourage recycling. Encourage people to shop from local suppliers and eat seasonally to reduce food miles eg by promoting Food Assembles or local food markets. Highlight food miles in supermarkets to encourage UK grown produce. Encourage people to eat less meat. Bring in common standards for councils with recycling. Develop recycling & reuse businesses in London so waste doesn’t have to be driven miles. Have a reward or branding program for businesses that reduce their waste. 

I live in K&C. Weekly "orange bag" collection which can contain paper/card/plastic. But no other recycling options. Would support food compositing if available. 

Responsibly disposing of anything else requires a car to get to Townmead in Wandsworth - which is barking mad. There is a 'mini recycling' point elsewhere in the Borough, but not open at weekends. To recycle light bulbs you  have to go Ryness on Ken High St. 

The weekly orange bag is the primary (and except for very environmentally conscious people, only) recycling facility. There needs to be more and more local provision of recycling points or services. I think if you sell a pollutant, or a product that uses a pollutant (water bottles, for .e.g.) you should provide facilities to recycle them - as we do with batteries.

If I am honest, I don't give it a 2nd thought, but that said, I have always recycled food waste, if possible, and the packaging. It would be great though, if supermarkets had package recycle points. Some of the food packaging (shrink wrapped boxed pizzas's etc) is excessive.

I go to a lot of trouble now to do my weekly shop to avoid packaging. I use a local milkman that I hope provides 'happy cow' milk. I buy a veg box so I only get what is in season. I go to a butchers for cheese, meat and deli in my own packaging (supermarkets don't usually let you do this). I bulk buy what I can and am careful what laundry and cleaning products I choose to reduce packaging. I also try to avoid packaging when I buy lunch at work - Leon, Itsu and Eat can give you warm food in your own box or else I go to the canteen. We bring our own water bottles, cups and cutlery wherever we go. We have more than halved our rubbish each week with composting and recycling. Hoping we can get to one rubbish bag a month eventually.

I would love it if I could get rice, pasta, chickpeas, etc from bulk bins at my local supermarket. And cereal too. And why does yoghurt and cream have to come in plastic and not re-usable glass like milk?

We recycle as much as we can and have a compost bin but our borough, Newham, takes very little in terms of recycling, which I find frustrating. I try to buy vegetables and fruit loose to cut down packaging waste. Occasionally I have also had groceries delivered but have felt that I need to complain about over-packaging of some of the items. I'd like it if my borough took more types of plastic and food waste.

We try to recycle or get reused everything we can inc food. Croydon are quite good and are active against fly tipping, where as Wandsworth does not appear to care. I agree we need a London wide approach perhaps abolishing the individual councils and having one that coordinates for the people. Now I know some will think me an old Stalinist but working together with common standards can’t be bad - after all you would not want different voltages from your electricity supplier, we have an agreed standard. Might even sort out the roads if they were all under one authority.

The Mayor should hold London boroughs to account for their recycling records, name and shame them but also encourage, by whatever means appropriate, the fullest take-up of recycling by boroughs. At the moment this is very patchy and there seem to be no penalties for poor performance.

I'm baffled as to why it is feasible for some authorities to recycle aluminium, but others do not.

Tower Hamlets do not appreciate that no rubbish has been put out for collection in almost ten years [only recycling or composted at home] I am proud to say that it can be done with a little care and effort. I think they could empty more regularly the green garden bags.