Food Recycling Prize Draw - Everything you need to know

Simply put out your food recycling caddy each week during September on your collection day to enter the prize draw. Below is the step-by-step process: 

1. line your indoor caddy with a compostable caddy liner 

2. collect your leftover food in your indoor caddy. Lock your caddy by pulling the lid forwards and down 

3. when your indoor caddy is full, empty it into your outdoor caddy. Clean your indoor caddy and place a new liner inside 

4. put out your outdoor caddy out each week on your collection day. Write your house number and road name on your outdoor caddy to make sure the lucky winner receives their prize correctly. 

You can also directly empty your food waste into your outdoor caddy if you do not have an indoor caddy. 

Order a free food recycling starter pack to get started. 

Order a free food recycling starter pack to get ready for the prize draw, launching in September 2025. The starter pack includes an external food caddy, an internal food caddy, and a one-off roll of compostable caddy liners. You can choose whether to order one, two, or all three of the items.  

When you fill out the form, you will need to provide your full name, email address, and home address for delivery.  

When you fill out the form to order a free food recycling starter pack, only select the items you need. You can select one, two, or all three items. For example, if you already have an outdoor food recycling caddy, you do not need to order a second one. Instead, just order an indoor food recycling caddy and liners. 

Only those who received a letter inviting them to enter the prize draw are eligible to receive a starter pack. If you live in Uttlesford and did not receive a letter, please use the standard form to request any replacement or extra bins. For residents who live outside Uttlesford, please refer to your local council's website. 

If you did receive a letter and are experiencing issues ordering your starter pack, please email love.essex@essex.gov.uk. Please include your full name, your address, and the items you ordered in your email. Please write ‘Food recycling starter pack’ in the subject line. A member of staff from Uttlesford District Council will be in touch shortly to ensure your starter pack is delivered correctly.  

The prize draw is open to a small sample of households in Uttlesford. This is because it is a pilot project and will test whether a prize draw can help to encourage food recycling. If this pilot is successful, the prize draw may be scaled-up to other areas in Essex. The eligible households have been sent a letter inviting them to take part.

In Uttlesford, around 39% of the average general rubbish bin consists of food. This is the highest in Essex. Therefore, there is a big opportunity to increase food recycling in our target areas. 

When we recycle our food, it is turned into green energy to power homes and fertiliser to use on farms. By recycling our food, we can make Uttlesford a cleaner, greener place to live. 

When you recycle food in your food recycling caddy, it is taken to an anaerobic digestion facility in Dagenham. The facility is called East London Biogas. Here, it is turned into green energy and fertiliser. In 2024, Uttlesford residents recycled over 3,000 tonnes of food. This recycled food generated enough green energy to power more than 600 homes! Find out more about food recycling in Essex. 

If you already recycle your food, you can still enter the prize draw. Just keep putting your full outdoor caddy out for collection each week!   

You can only enter the prize draw if you put your food recycling caddy out for collection – even if you only recycle a small amount. Items like bones and cooked food shouldn’t be added to a compost heap or bin, as they won’t break down. Place these in your food recycling caddy instead and put it out for collection.  

Keep up the great composting! If you want to start recycling the food you can't compost, order a free starter pack today.  

One lucky winner will win the top prize of £1,000. 10 runners-up will have the option to select one of the following prizes, worth up to £100:  

• a Tiptree Tea Rooms Voucher 

• an Audley End House & Gardens Family Pass 

• a Colchester Zoo gift voucher 

• a year's garden waste subscription 

• a bulky waste collection 

Winners can also choose to donate the value of their prize to a charity of their choice. If you would like to donate locally, charities include Uttlesford Community Action Network, Uttlesford Food Bank, and more.

All prizes have been kindly sponsored by N+P who are supporting this through their social value fund. This is a special fund that can be used for community incentives and projects like this one. 

Our team will randomise all the households involved in the pilot. The first house chosen by the randomiser will be visited by our team and if a caddy is correctly placed outside, they will receive a letter notifying them they have won the top prize. If this house has not placed a caddy out, our team will move onto the next house in the randomised list. The same will occur for the 10 runners-up prizes. 

The winner and 10 runners-up will be sent a letter week commencing 29 September 2025. The letter will letter will inform if they have won the top prize or one of the 10 runners-up prizes. If you have not received a letter by 10 October 2025, please assume you have not been successful. But keep up the great work - everything you do makes a difference! 

Congratulations! You will have received a letter detailing if you won the top prize or one of the 10 runners-up prizes. To claim your prize, please email love.essex@essex.gov.uk by Monday 13 October 2025. In your email, please include your full name, home address, and chosen prize or charity you want to donate to. If we do not hear from you by this date, we will select another household at random to claim the prize. 

Data privacy statement  

Essex County Council (ECC) is the controller of the personal information you provide to us. The personal information collected when you email us will be used by ECC for the administration and evaluation of Maldon’s Money Saving Food Challenge and deleted after 12 months. You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing love.essex@essex.gov.uk. For more detail on how your personal information is used and your rights, please visit www.essex.gov.uk/privacy 

We’ve picked a few bin collection routes at random to be our pilot group for this prize draw. You may see us taking note of who has their bins out on collection day, but this is just so we can monitor participation and use a randomiser to pick our winner.