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Food waste bins and caddies

We collect food waste from your grey food bin once a week on the same day as your refuse or recycling. You should also have a smaller kitchen caddy for storing food waste inside your home. Collect food in this, and then empty it into the larger food waste bin.

What can you recycle?

  • You can use plastic bags, bin liners, biodegradable bags or newspaper to line the inside of your caddy and food waste bin if you wish.
  • Please present your bins at the kerbside by 6am on your collection day.

 Acceptable

 Not accepted

  • All food cooked and raw
  • Meat and fish bones
  • Pet food
  • Tea bags and coffee grounds
  • Food packaging
  • Animal waste
  • Pet bedding (eg straw or wood shavings)
  • Nappies
  • Garden waste

Why recycle food waste?

When food waste is put into landfill and rots it produces methane, a greenhouse gas much more harmful than carbon dioxide. By recycling your food waste rather than putting it in your rubbish bin you can help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and its environmental impact.

What happens to food waste after collection? 

It is turned into energy and fertilizer. The food is sent to an anaerobic digester where it is broken down naturally by bacteria in an oxygen-starved environment. This is turned into energy and fertilizer -biogas, which is cleaned and fed into the national gas grid. The liquid residue called digestate is used to fertilise local farmland. Any caddy liners or plastic bags are easily separated from the food waste by a shredding machine before the recycling process begins.

Most of us do not realise how much food waste we produce. The most common food wasted is bread, salad, fresh fruit /vegetables and drinks.

How can we all help reduce food waste

Waste Wizard

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