Food waste collection

How often is food waste collected?

Your food waste is collected once a week on the same day as the rest of your waste. 

Use the button below and input your postcode to find your collection dates.

Find your bin collection day

Home composting

You can also compost your food waste for your own use, eg in your garden or allotment.

Order a compost bin with getcomposting

How to store your food waste

Each property gets a 5 litre caddy to use indoors and a 23 litre caddy to store outside. If you live in a flat you'll have a small caddy and a large communal bin.

  • Keep your food waste in the small caddy somewhere inside your home, eg in your kitchen
  • When your caddy's full, move your waste out to the bigger food waste bin for collection

The council doesn't collect from small caddies.

Compostable liners

You can use compostable liners or paper (eg newspaper or kitchen roll) to line your caddy if you want to. Don't use plastic bags.

You can buy food caddy liners made from corn starch or paper from most supermarkets and hardware shops. You can also buy them online from various sources, including:

What you can put in your caddy

Place any solid food waste, raw or cooked, into your caddy, for example:

  • meat, chicken and fish, with and without bones
  • eggs and eggshells
  • dairy products, eg cheese and yogurts
  • bread, pasta and rice
  • tea bags and coffee grounds

Don't place anything that's not solid food into your caddy, eg oils and liquids, nappies, soil or rubble, or packaging of any sort.

How to get a new caddy

If one of your caddies is damaged or missing, you can request a new or replacement bin 

You'll normally have to pay a charge to repair or replace caddies.

What about damaged communal bins?

For communal bins shared by flats, the landlord or letting agent should report losses or damage. They are also responsible for the costs of repair or replacement.