Food waste collections

Black, brown, green bin and new silver food waste bin in a row.

Your silver food waste recycling bin is collected every week on the same day as your other bins. To make our rounds more efficient you may have seen a change to your collection day; please check our bin collection day finder.

Before the service launched in April 2025, most households should have received a 23ltr silver food bin, one free roll of kitchen caddy liners and a collection calendar.

Silver food waste bin with roll of liners, calendar and service guide leaflet.

How to recycle your food waste

You can use a kitchen caddy to collect food waste in the kitchen then transfer this to your food waste bin. Kitchen caddies are available free of charge, from centres across the borough (see locations below). Or you can use your own container, like a biscuit tin or ice cream tub.

1. Most people put a liner in their kitchen caddy then put their food waste in it.

open kitchen caddy with liner

Plastic bags are OK. The facility that we take your food waste to can remove plastic bags at the start of the process so you can reuse a plastic bag such as a bread bag, salad bag or cereal bag. The only thing you can't use is a black bag. If you don't want to use a liner at all you don't have to.

2. Whenever you need to empty your caddy, simply tie the bags or tip the contents directly into your outdoor silver food recycling bin.

A hand holding a full bag of food waste over a kitchen caddy.

3. Please put your food waste bin out for collection by 6am every week on your collection day.

A silver food waste bin with 6am clock.

Your food bin comes with a lockable handle to help keep out flies and foxes! Putting the handle forward means the lid is locked. The handle all the way back means the lid is ready to open. We recommend the handle is kept in the fully locked position.

Food waste bins showing the handle forward is locked and the handle back is open.

What can I recycle?

All uneaten food and plate scrapings, raw and cooked meat, fish, bones, dairy products, cheese, eggs, eggshells,  tea bags, coffee grounds, rice, pasta, beans, bread, cakes, pastries, raw and cooked vegetables, whole fruit, peelings. And remember to recycle your mouldy and out of date food, including ready meals removed from their packaging

Please do not put any of the following in your food waste bin:

Packaging of any kind - except plastic bags used as liners

Liquids such as milk

Oil or liquid fat

Any material that is not food waste

Download a guide to the new food waste service


FAQs

Your new food waste recycling service