Food Waste Collections

Weekly food waste recycling collections will start from 30 March 2026. We will collect your food waste on the same day as we collect your other waste and recycling. 

We will deliver caddy packs to all households in the District during February and March 2026. We anticipate this will take up to six weeks. Your caddies may not be delivered on your usual collection day; it could be any day of the week (Monday to Friday). 

Households will receive two caddies, an indoor caddy and an outside caddy. 

Those that live in flats and have an outside bin store will just receive a kitchen caddy for collecting food waste indoors. A new communal bin for food waste will be added to the bin store. 

It's important that you only use your caddy after 23 March 2026, ready for your first collection the following week. 

Once the service starts, your food waste will be collected every week on your usual bin day (arrangements may be different at Christmas) 

On the same day, yes, but not at the same time. Your outdoor food waste caddy will be collected by a different vehicle at a different time to your other bins. This could be before or after your other bins are collected. 

Please make sure your outdoor caddy is put outside for collection by 6:30am on your usual collection day 

New Government recycling regulations come into force from 1 April 2026 which require the council to give every resident the opportunity to recycle food waste from their homes. 

Caddy packs are provided free of charge. If you decide not to use the caddies initially, we recommend keeping them in case you decide to take part in the future.   

Please note the caddies are allocated to the property rather than the individual resident. If you decide not to use them, we kindly ask they remain at the property so they are available for any future occupants who may wish to use the service. 

Your assisted collection will also include your food waste caddy. You do not need to request a food waste collection. Please keep your outdoor caddy in the same place as your wheeled bin. 

Yes, the items in the caddy pack will be delivered to you free of charge. We will deliver them during February and March 2026.  

The kitchen caddy is 7 litres. It measures H 230mm x W 250mm x D 225mm. 

The outdoor caddy is 23 litres. It measures H 374mm x W 324mm x D 350mm. 

For those that live in flats or have a communal bin (for bin stores) for several households to use, the bin is 140 litres. It measures H1049mm x W486mm x D563mm. 

As you can imagine, raw food or food that has been left out of the fridge for several days could contain harmful germs. This is not dangerous to you if you properly tie up the bags and wash your hands after handling your bins (as you would normally). 

To protect the crews who collect food waste, present food waste in a bag that is tied at the top. If food waste is presented without a bag, our crews may not be able to collect it. 

We will be providing households with one starter pack of 50 compostable bags. After that you’ll need to supply your own.  

Bags are available to buy at most supermarkets, and you can pick these up as part of your usual shopping. Alternatively, you can purchase compostable caddy liners online. 

You don’t have to buy bags; you can reuse any single use plastic bag to line your kitchen caddy. This includes salad or vegetable bags, bread bags, frozen goods bags, delivery and shopping bags. Reusing old bags saves you money, extends the useable life of the bag and reduces the energy consumption associated with making any type of brand-new bag. 

Line your kitchen caddy with a compostable or any plastic bag; either compostable or non-compostable is fine.  

You don’t have to buy bags; you can reuse any single use plastic bag to line your kitchen caddy. This includes salad or vegetable bags, bread bags, frozen goods bags, delivery and shopping bags. Reusing old bags saves you money, extends the useable life of the bag and reduces the energy consumption associated with making any type of brand-new bag. 

Please use a bag to line your kitchen caddy rather than put the food waste in your caddy loose. This helps our collection crews and will also help to reduce smells and keep your kitchen caddy clean 

All bags, including compostable bags, are removed mechanically at the food waste recycling facility before the food is recycled. The facility can’t tell between normal plastic and compostable or biodegradable bags. No type of bag (including compostable and biodegradable bags) is suitable for anaerobic digestion - the recycling process the food waste will go through. 

One outdoor caddy only is provided per household. The council would like to help you to waste less food rather than give you an extra food waste caddy. You can take steps to reduce your food waste such as:

• Shopping smart by making meal plans and lists 
• Keeping your food fresh for longer by improving your storage 
• Getting creative to make the most of your leftovers. 

The caddies are designed with lockable lids. You shouldn’t have an issue with smells if you empty the bagged food waste in your indoor kitchen caddy regularly into the outside food waste caddy. Your outside caddy has a lockable lid which will prevent pests and vermin getting in. 

Both your kitchen caddy and outdoor caddy have lockable lids.   

To lock the caddy, place the handle in the back position. Then, place your handle firmly on the lid and bring the handle all the way over to the front lock position. 

A lot of people find keeping the kitchen caddy under the sink, next to the kitchen bin or on the worktop is practical. Remember you can use your own container if you prefer, something more stylish or which fits better in your kitchen. But please remember to put a bag inside. The outside caddy is small compared to normal bins and can easily be tucked alongside them without taking up too much space. 

If you prefer not to use an indoor caddy, you could just line your outside caddy and put your food waste directly into that instead. 

All communal properties will receive at least one regular (140L) wheelie bin per store.  If you are worried that there is no space for even a regular sized wheelie bin, please ask the person responsible for managing waste at your property (this could be you, your managing agent, landlord or housing association) to contact the council. 

The indoor kitchen caddy (7L) is small enough to fit on a work surface, under the kitchen sink or on a windowsill in your kitchen. 

Due to bins being in storage before delivery, the bin’s body or lid may look slightly different to their usual shape when they are delivered to you. This might mean there is a small gap between the body of the bin and the closed lid, or the body of the bin seems a bit too narrow for the lid to fit. 

These bins do not need to be replaced as they will return to their usual shape after a few weeks. Move the handle so that it is in an open position and gently press the lid into place, you may need to give it a wiggle to get it to fit. Keep the bin closed with the handle locked while not in use and put them out in natural daylight for the quickest results. 

Sometimes the handle can pop out of its socket. It’s very easy to re-insert by lining up the lug with the hole and applying some pressure until you hear or feel it click into place. Although it can be hard to do this by hand, it’s easy to do it on the ground. Open the lid and line up the lug and hole on the affected side with the handle in the upright position. Place the bin on its side on the ground and gently step on the edge of the bin to clip the handle into place. 

When recycled, food waste can be turned into something useful.  

It’s estimated a third of the weight in your refuse bin is food waste. The new recycling service gives you the opportunity to recycle more, so helping the environment and doing your bit to combat climate change. 

Food waste that is sent to landfill doesn’t just harmlessly break down. It has a big impact on the environment as it rots and releases methane – a harmful greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Also, as food waste is 70% water, if it is sent for incineration, it requires more energy to burn. That’s why recycling is a more efficient and sustainable method of disposal. Our recycling method, anaerobic digestion, also produces green energy and fertiliser to boost agricultural land. 

If you already compost you can continue to do so if you wish. Remember to only compost garden waste and uncooked waste vegetables and fruit - such as peelings and skins - as well as coffee grounds and tea bags. 

All non-compostable food waste, such as meat, fish, small bones, fruit stones, cooked food and dairy products can go into your food waste caddy. 

The best thing we can do is enjoy our food and eat everything we buy or produce. However, some waste like peelings, banana skins, tea bags and meat or fish bones are unavoidable and can all be recycled. Plate scrapings and out-of-date food which you would not normally eat can go in the caddy for recycling, as can any uneaten pet food. You may actually be surprised by how much food waste you have. Remember there is no amount to small. 

It’s as quick and easy to put your food waste into the kitchen caddy as it is to put it in your kitchen waste bin. By doing this you’ll be playing an important part in helping reduce carbon emissions as well as contributing to the production of green energy and fertiliser. If you get into the habit of using your caddy for food waste and not your waste bin, it will soon become second nature. 

 Food waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility where it is processed to generate biogas which is converted into electricity; and fertiliser is created as a by-product. At the facility all bags (including compostable bags) are removed before the food waste is processed. 

In a sealed silo the food waste is mixed and pulped to create a thick liquid. This is then pasteurised (heated) to kill any harmful bacteria, leaving the good bacteria to break it down and produce biogas. The biogas is extracted and used to generate electricity to feed into the National Grid.  

Once the gas has been removed a liquid fertiliser remains (known as digestate) which can be used on local farmland. Digestate is high in valuable nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements required for healthy plant growth and fertile soil.

From April 2026, new government regulations will require councils to provide food waste recycling collections. To help with the cost of this, the UK Government (through DEFRA – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is giving the council funding to set up and run the service. This money is specifically for food waste collections and can’t be used for anything else. 

There are some great tips on the Love Food Hate Waste website or the LessWaste website.