UK food waste collections: what goes in the caddy (and what changes in 2026)

Food scraps are the heaviest — and smelliest — part of most household bins. They're also the most recyclable. Under the government's Simpler Recycling reforms, every council in England must offer households a separate weekly food waste collection by 31 March 2026, bringing England in line with Wales, Scotland and much of Northern Ireland, where caddies are already routine. If a little kitchen caddy has just landed on your doorstep, here's how to use it well.

What goes in the food caddy

The rule of thumb is simple: if it was once alive and edible (or came off something edible), it probably goes in. That means:

• Fruit and vegetable peelings, cores and skins
• Cooked and uncooked food scraps, including meat, fish and bones
• Bread, pastries, pasta and rice — cooked or stale
• Dairy, eggs and eggshells
• Tea bags and coffee grounds (check your council's list — some compost facilities reject plastic-mesh tea bags)
• Pet food leftovers and small amounts of cooking oil soaked into kitchen roll

Cooked food is the big one people get wrong. Unlike home composting, the industrial process your caddy goes to — usually anaerobic digestion — handles cooked food, meat and dairy perfectly safely, and turns it into biogas and fertiliser.

What stays out

• Packaging of any kind — even "compostable" coffee pods and caddy liners need checking against your council's list; many only accept their own supplied liners.
• Liquids — milk, soup and cooking oil straight from the pan leak through liners and make a mess of the collection vehicle.
• Garden waste — grass and prunings belong in the garden bin (or home compost), not the food caddy.
• Pet waste and cat litter — general waste, always.

Keeping the caddy bearable

The number one complaint about food caddies is the smell in summer. A few habits fix it almost entirely: always use a liner and tie it off before it gets heavy; keep the lid clicked shut (most caddies have a locking handle); drain anything wet before it goes in; and put the outdoor bin out for every weekly collection, even if it's half empty. A rinse with hot water and a drop of washing-up liquid whenever you empty it keeps flies and smells from building up.

Why it matters more than you'd think

Rotting food in landfill releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than CO₂. Sent to an anaerobic digester instead, the same scraps generate electricity and return nutrients to farmland. And there's a household benefit too: once the wet, heavy food is out of your general waste bin, the rest of it stays cleaner, lighter and far less likely to smell between fortnightly collections.

Food waste collections run weekly in most areas — which means a new weekly routine to remember on top of recycling and general waste. BinMinder sends a free reminder the evening before each collection, matched to your exact address, so the caddy goes out every time.