Over a quarter of what we throw away is food waste, so it makes sense to recycle it into something useful. Your refuse bin will need emptying less frequently and it’ll smell less too!
Find out more about the service and why we want your food waste in the sections below.
Households (other than those with a communal bin store) have two caddies:
a five-litre caddy for indoors
a larger 23 litre caddy for outdoors
You can put food waste loose in caddies, or you can use a plastic or biodegradable bag to line the caddy.
Here's what to do:
Transfer all food waste to your indoor caddy
Everything including teabags, eggshells, banana peels, plate scrapings, vegetable peelings, and bones, see ‘what goes in my caddy’ below for a full list
When your indoor caddy is full, empty the contents into your outdoor caddy
Place your outdoor caddy at the closest point to the public highway by 6.30am on your collection day
Food waste will be collected weekly. You should leave your outdoor caddy, with your refuse or recycling, outside your property by 6.30am on your collection day at the closest point to the public highway.
You need to make sure the lid of your caddy is shut and in the locked position before putting it out for collection. Your outdoor caddy locks shut when you pull the handle to the upright position.
To recycle as much as possible, remember what you can and can’t put in your caddy.
Yes please:
Food leftovers and plate scrapings
Eggs
Tea bags and coffee grounds
Meat and fish
Raw and cooked food
Bones (from meat, poultry or fish)
Cooking oil, lard and fats
Pet food
No thanks:
Garden waste
Food packaging
Animal waste
Nappies and sanitary products
You can search items using the Waste Wizard tool to find out what can and cannot be placed in your caddy.
If you choose to line your caddy, you can obtain 5 to 10 litre PE or biodegradable caddy bags at most supermarkets.
Your food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion plant in Salisbury to be recycled. It is processed into nutrient-rich fertiliser for crops and biogas, which is used to create energy.
Food waste is 70% water, so disposing of it with residual waste via incineration requires more energy than is recovered.
Watch the video to see what happens:
As an alternative or addition to having food waste collected, you could consider producing your own compost from food waste. You can purchase compost bins at most large supermarkets or DIY and hardware stores.
Please note: Most home composting units can only take garden waste uncooked vegetables and fruit for example, peelings and skins, as well as coffee grounds and tea bags. Any meat, fish, bones, dairy or cooked food should still go in your council food waste caddy.