About the Food Waste Collection Service
Questions
- When will food waste recycling collections start?
- What food waste will be collected?
- Can I put liquids in the food caddy e.g. milk, soup, gravy, oil?
- Can I include rotten food?
- Will I be able to put dog waste or animal bedding in my food waste collection?
- Why am I able to include meat products?
- If I get packaging that says it is compostable from another source (e.g. organic carrots in a compostable bag from the supermarket) can I put this in my food waste to be composted?
- How will food waste be collected?
- What are the benefits of collecting food waste?
When will food waste recycling collections start?
Collections will start on Monday 4th July 2011. The fortnightly non-recyclable (black sack) collection will start at the same time.
Back to Questions
Can I put liquids in the food caddy e.g. milk, soup, gravy, oil?
Liquids cannot be put directly into your food caddy. There are a number of products which can soak up all liquids and fats after cooking, these can then be disposed of safely. For example:
http://www.lessmess.co.uk/
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Will I be able to put dog waste or animal bedding in my food waste collection?
No.
Residents should double bag any animal waste and put it in with your non-recyclable waste collection. Animal waste cannot be mixed with food or garden waste for composting.
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Why am I able to include meat products?
The food waste is composted in an In-Vessel Composter, this reaches temperatures up to 60p, which kills all bugs and diseases, allowing meat products to be included when they might not be able to in home composting.
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If I get packaging that says it is compostable from another source (e.g. organic carrots in a compostable bag from the supermarket) can I put this in my food waste to be composted?
Any bag that does not compost at the same time as the food waste will contaminate the soil improver. It is therefore important that ONLY compostable bags which include the following symbol are put in the caddies.
If you are unsure it is better not to include them!
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How will food waste be collected?
Households will be supplied with two caddies, one small caddy to keep in the kitchen, to place peelings or plate scrapings directly into, for example. This caddy will then be tipped into a larger second caddy, which will be placed out for collection.
The collection will be weekly.
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What are the benefits of collecting food waste?
Environmental - If food waste is put into landfill it decomposes anaerobically which produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide, however, by composting instead, this can be prevented. Composting food waste allows what would be waste to be used as a resource.
Economical - By composting food waste rather than sending it to landfill we don’t have to pay the landfill tax on food waste. This keeps your council tax down!