What goes in which bin
Food waste
Information about the separate food waste collection.
We provide a green food caddy for your food waste, which is collected every week.
Leave your food caddy, with the lid closed, on the boundary of your property by 6.30am on your usual collection day.
The lid is lockable, so you don't need to worry about spillages or attracting pests.
What goes in the food caddy
You can use your caddy to for all raw and cooked food waste, including pet food, bones and tea bags.
| Yes please | No thanks |
|---|---|
|
All food leftovers, including pet food and plate scrapings |
Plastic pots and tubs |
|
Dairy, cheese, eggs |
Glass |
|
Breads and pastries |
Metal food containers |
|
Pasta and rice |
Cardboard |
|
Meat, bones and carcasses |
Pet waste, litter or bedding |
|
Fish, bones and carcasses |
Garden Waste |
|
Tea bags and coffee grounds |
Liquids |
|
Fruit, vegetables and peelings (including home grown and windfall) |
If your food caddy is not collected tell us at report a missed bin.
Flats and maisonettes
From 30 March 2026 we will begin collecting food waste from some flats and maisonettes.
Find out about food waste recycling for flats and maisonettes.
Assisted collections
If you receive an assisted collection for your rubbish and recycling bins this will also include your food waste caddy.
Composting and brown garden bins
You can compost some food at home but many items of food waste such as meat, fish and dairy, should not be composted at home.
You should not put food waste in the brown garden bins as they are processed differently.
If you find that you are producing more food waste than can fit into your weekly food waste collection, please follow us @HertsWasteAware for hints and tips.
Keeping your caddy clean
Keep your food caddy locked to prevent spillages or attracting pests.
You can use food caddy liners or reuse a plastic bag (such as bags from bread, salad or cereal). These are removed from the food waste during the recycling process.
Do not use black bags or newspaper. Any food waste put out in black bags may not be collected or treated at the facility.
You may also want to wash your caddy from time to time to minimise odour.
Benefits of recycling food waste
Food waste fills up over a third of a household waste bin. Most of it ends up in landfill sites where it releases methane, a damaging greenhouse gas.
We recycle your food waste locally to produce biogas:
- it is used to heat and power homes and communities
- just one lorry load of food waste generates enough energy to power 20,000 TVs for an hour
- the rich fertiliser leftover from this process is used for farming.
Our Hertfordshire recycling plant saves the carbon equivalent of taking 80,000 cars off the road.