Bradford Council is introducing separate food waste collections across the district, with households gradually receiving a small kitchen caddy, liners and a separate outdoor food waste bin.
The rollout has started and will continue over the next few months, meaning some Bradford households will receive their bins before others.
But the message for residents whose new caddies have already landed is simple: start using them straight away.
Once received, the outdoor food waste bin should be put out every week on your normal bin collection day, alongside whichever general waste or recycling bin is being collected that week.
What can you put in the new food waste bin?
The new collection is designed to take much of the everyday food waste that would previously have ended up in household rubbish.
That includes:
- leftover meals, including curries and stews
- cooked and raw food
- mouldy or out-of-date food
- tea bags and coffee grounds
- meat and fish, including bones
- rice, pasta, lentils and beans
- bread, rotis, pastries and cakes
- cheese and other dairy products
- eggs and eggshells
- uneaten pet food.
Food packaging must be removed before food is placed in the caddy. Liquids, cooking oil and garden waste should also not be put into the new food waste bins.
How does it work?
Households will receive a small caddy which can be kept on a kitchen worktop, beside the normal kitchen bin or underneath the sink.
Residents can line the caddy using the liners supplied by the council and transfer the bag to the outdoor food waste bin when it is full.
Once the council-supplied liners run out, households do not need to buy special compostable bags. Bradford Council says any plastic bag can be used as a liner, or food can be placed directly into the caddy.
Both the kitchen caddy and outdoor bin have lockable lids designed to help reduce smells and prevent insects and pests getting inside.
The outdoor bin is smaller than a conventional wheelie bin.
When will it be collected?
Unlike Bradford’s general waste and recycling bins, which are collected on alternate weeks, food waste will be collected every week.
Residents should put their food waste bin out at the same time as their usual bin on collection day.
So, for example, if it is your recycling week, put out your recycling bin and food waste bin. The following week, put out your general waste bin and food waste bin.
When putting the food waste bin out, residents are asked to leave the handle upright in the locked position.
Haven’t received yours yet?
Don’t panic.
Bradford Council says the new service is being introduced gradually across the district over the next few months.
Residents who have not yet received their bins are being asked not to contact the council to find out when they will arrive.
The authority says households will also receive information explaining how to use the new service and when collections will take place.
The changes are being introduced as part of the Government’s Simpler Recycling requirements, which are bringing separate weekly food waste collections to households across England.
What happens to Bradford’s food waste?
Rather than being disposed of with general household rubbish, the collected food will undergo a process known as anaerobic digestion.
Micro-organisms break down the waste, allowing it to be converted into biogas, which can be used as renewable energy, or digestate, a nutrient-rich material which can be used on farmland.
The council says recycling food waste is also cheaper than sending it to landfill or incineration.
Participation in the scheme is not compulsory, although Bradford Council is encouraging households to use the service even if they produce only a small amount of food waste.
Residents who already compost at home can continue doing so, but cooked food, meat, dairy and oily food which is unsuitable for home composting can instead go into the new food waste collection.
The key message for Bradford residents is: if your new food waste caddy and bin have arrived, start using them now and put the outdoor bin out on your next normal collection day.
