Food Waste Service Update

The new food waste service has started well and approximately 50 tonnes of food waste has been collected from thousands of households this week. Thank you for supporting this brand new service.

Due to the huge volume of waste being presented on the first collections, which has accumulated over 2-3 weeks in some cases, we haven’t emptied all of the caddies this week on the scheduled day as the vehicles have been filling up much quicker. If your food waste caddy has not been collected yet, please leave it out and the crews will be back to collect them. Saturday may also be used for collections.

If you think that your food waste caddy has genuinely been missed, as in other caddies have been emptied on your street but not yours, please report it online or contact us 01785 619402.

Remember - the grey food waste caddy will be collected on the same day as your waste or recycling bins, by a different vehicle and at a different time so please put your food waste caddy out by 7am.

We are rolling out a new weekly food waste collection service in line with government requirements.

We will start delivering the food waste caddies across the Borough from 16 March 2026 to approximately 60,000 households. The delivery process will take approximately 3-4 weeks to complete.

Weekly collections of the food waste caddies will start from 13 April 2026.

The external food waste caddy will be emptied on your usual collection day and should be placed alongside your waste and recycling bins for collection.

The food waste will be collected by a separate vehicle and at a different time to your other bins. Make sure it is visible from the road and not hidden behind other bins.

As with your other bins, please put the food waste caddy out by 7am and leave it out until it has been emptied.

Why this is happening

Food waste makes up around a third of household rubbish which is currently incinerated.

Did you know the average household throws away around £800 of edible food each year?

The government's simpler recycling initiative (gov.uk) requires that all local councils roll out a separate food waste service in 2026.

By collecting food waste separately, we can:

• turn food waste into energy and bio-fertiliser via anaerobic digestion
• help you to see what food is being wasted in your house
• free up more room in your general waste bin if needed

How this works

As part of the new kerbside collection service you will receive:

• a small kitchen caddy (7 litres) to collect food waste indoors - keep this in your kitchen and use with the liner (optional to use)
• a larger kerbside caddy (23 litres) to present for weekly collection - place the full liners or loose food waste from your small caddy in here
• a roll of liners (optional to use)
• detailed instructions on how to recycle your food waste - Food Waste Leaflet (pdf 1.9mb)

The caddies are sealed and easy to clean. Liners help keep them tidy but are optional to use.

Towards the end of the roll of liners you will find a tag to attach to the handle of your kerbside caddy to indicate to the crew that you require more liners. We will also be supplying liners at the Civic Centre and in local libraries.

We would encourage you to write your house name or number on the external caddy.

What you need to do

• look out for your caddies, liners and service information leaflet from 16 March 2026
• watch this short video for further guidance (YouTube)
• recycle and reuse as much of your waste as you can

There is no charge for food waste collections.

What can go in your food caddy

There will be an information leaflet delivered with your caddies showing what can and can’t go in the caddy, items can be either raw or cooked:

Yes please

• baked goods like bread, cake, pastries, pies and biscuits
• dairy products like cheese, yoghurts, dips, eggs and egg shells
• fruit and vegetables, including peelings
• meat or fish, including bones
• rice, pasta, noodles, beans and pulses
• uneaten food and plate scrapings, out-of-date or mouldy food
• fast food, takeaway and ready meal leftovers
• tea leaves, tea bags and coffee grounds
• domestic pet food (not pet waste or pet bedding)

No thanks

• containers or food packaging
• garden waste
• liquids, oils or fats
• non-food waste

If you have an assisted or black bag collection

The external food waste caddy will be collected and returned to the same location where you currently leave your bins or black bags for collection.

If you live in a flat with a communal bin store

Each flat will have a smaller kitchen caddy for inside the home and then larger communal bins in the bin store rather than a kerbside caddy.

We will provide further communication on the food waste service for flats before the service is due to start, it is expected that the service will start in May / June 2026.