Food waste collections

Food waste is collected weekly in your 23-litre green food waste caddy (or your purple bin for shared bin stores).

We collect your food waste on the same day as your rubbish and recycling collections. Find your next collection day.
 

We will collect your recycling on bank holidays, except over the Christmas period. We will share details of Christmas collection days closer to the time.

What goes in your food waste bin

You can recycle the following types of food waste:

• uneaten food from plates
• meat, fish and bones
• bread and pastries
• fruit and vegetables (including pumpkins)
• cheese and eggs
• tea bags and coffee grounds

Do not put the following in your food waste bin:

• general household waste
• bones from red meat
• oils, liquids or fats
• coal and ash
• packaging
• animal bedding or poo
• garden waste - we have a separate paid for, opt-in garden waste service, or you can take it to one of our recycling centres

You can also  download and print our food waste leaflet PDF [952KB] .

The average family of four can save just over £60 per month by reducing their food waste. For information on how to reduce food waste, please see our reducing your waste page. You may also want to consider starting your own composter.

Indoor and outdoor caddies

You can collect your food waste in your smaller indoor kitchen caddy. You can either line your caddy with compostable liners, or put the food waste straight into the caddy. When the indoor caddy is full, you can then transfer your food waste into the outdoor caddy. You can find a video on how to use your food waste caddy on our YouTube channel here.

If you currently place your waste into a communal bin store, your bin store will have a purple 240-litre wheeled bin to share with your neighbours, instead of a green 23-litre outside food waste caddy. See our bin store page for more information.

Compostable liners

Please only use compostable liners for your food waste. The kitchen caddies we supply have a 5-litre capacity.

You can purchase liners from Compost Bag UK and most supermarkets.

Replacement caddies

If your 23-litre outside food waste caddy is broken or missing, you can order an outdoor caddy online.

Unfortunately, we cannot replace inside caddies that have been broken or lost. You can find a reasonably cheap replacement at larger supermarkets, in hardware shops or from an internet retailer.

What happens to your food waste

You can find out what happens to food waste and other recycling on our 'where does your rubbish and recycling go?' page.

Top tips for food waste recycling

Change your caddy liner every 3 to 4 days or when it gets three quarters full to avoid the liner splitting.

Keep the lid of your food waste caddy closed when not in use with the handle in the locked position. If you have pets, store the caddy where they cannot gain access to it.

Put your food waste caddy out for collection every week even if only one bag inside, it is the most frequently collected bin so this will reduce any smells.

If your caddy gets dirty, it can easily be rinsed out to keep it fresh and clean.