Food Waste

Food waste is collected weekly in your brown outdoor caddy. This page has details of what can be included and how you can help reduce your food waste.

Items you can include in your food waste caddy include:

  • all leftovers, including pet food and plate scrapings
  • dairy, cheese and eggs (including shells)
  • bread and pastries
  • pasta and rice
  • meat, bones and carcasses
  • tea bags and coffee grounds
  • fruit and vegetable peelings
  • fish bones and carcasses

For more information on what you can include in your caddy, check our A-Z guide or the Recycling Info section on the Your East Herts app.

You can now use any plastic bag you have to line your kitchen caddy with.

You can still use compostable liners if you prefer, but you can also use things like plastic bread bags, cereal packet liners and frozen food bags to get an extra use out of them. The plastic bags will be removed by machinery before the anaerobic digestion process starts and are sent for energy recovery 

Please make sure you’re not putting any additional bags or packaging into your food waste bin. And no black bin bags please.

It is really important that you do not leave any cleaning detergents, loose powders or chemicals in your kerbside caddy that might pose a risk to our crews on collection. 

More than 80% of food waste is avoidable. The main reasons for throwing away food are:

  • buying, cooking or preparing too much
  • forgetting to freeze or chill food to use later
  • forgetting what food is in the cupboards

Try using the Five Dinners meal planning service to help you reduce waste, or visit Love Food Hate Waste for ideas, inspiration help you make the most of your food.

During warmer weather there may be an increase in the likelihood of flies being attracted to uncovered food waste. To reduce the chance of maggots developing in your waste try these tips:

  • Don’t leave any food, including pet food, uncovered for prolonged periods. It can attract flies which may then lay eggs on food before it goes in the bin, and in warm weather the eggs can hatch within 24 hours.
  • Empty your kitchen caddy more regularly during warm weather.
  • Give your kitchen caddy a wipe down between bag-changes to remove spills.
  • Ensure you use the locking mechanism on both your kitchen and kerbside caddies to keep them sealed.
  • Squeeze out the air from your liners and tie them tightly before putting into your kerbside caddy to help reduce odours.

You can find a number of simple options online for dealing with maggots, including using essential oils as deterrents.

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