Food waste: what can and can't go in the recycling

On 31 March this year, a change to England's recycling came in, designed to bring all councils into sync. 

One of the biggest changes is around food waste – local authorities now have to offer a weekly food waste collection.

Collecting and disposing of food waste properly can make a significant environmental difference. When food waste is thrown away in the general rubbish, it either ends up in landfill, where it releases harmful gases as it decomposes, or is incinerated. 

But when separated out, food waste collections are very effectively recycled. Anaerobic digestion is the most popular method; the contents of your waste caddy are broken down using micro-organisms, producing bio-gas and digestate that can be used as fertiliser. It can be more cost-effective for councils too.

If you're used to home composting, you might have a strict list of do's and don'ts for your compost bin. But because the industrial process is different, there are different rules. You might be suprised at just how much gets the green light to be added to kerbside food waste collections.

We set out what can and can't go in your food waste recycling below.

Will everyone get a food waste collection?

Despite the March deadline, food waste collection hasn't reached all English households on time. A number of councils missed the rollout date, citing a lack of specialist collection vehicles and funding gaps. 

There are also some tricky logistical problems for local authorities to solve when it comes to bringing food waste collections to certain flats, particularly those above shops, where providing and accessing bins is difficult. 

Those issues aside, the 'Simpler Recycling' scheme has the potential to drive up England's recycling rate, bringing it more in line with the rest of the UK. 

Wales already has food waste recycling throughout the country and a really impressive recycling rate – the second best in the world, according to a recent study by green data research agency Eunomia. It has had its own version of Simpler Recycling, called Beyond Recycling, in place for several years. 

Over 80% of households in Scotland have access to a food waste collection and all householders in Northern Ireland have access to food waste collection along with garden waste recycling.

To find out more about what you can and can't recycle at kerbside visit our guide on how to recycle in the UK.

What can you put in your food waste bin?

One of the advantages of the food waste bin over a home compost bin is you can all types of food waste in it. With a home compost bin, you can't add things like meat, dairy and oily foods as they attract pests and rodents. Your council food waste bin can accept all of these.

What you can put in:

• All uneaten food and plate scrapings
• Raw and cooked meat, including small bones
• Fish, including cooked fish and small bones
• Dairy products, including cheese and eggs
• Bread, cakes and pastries
• Pet food
• Rice, pasta and beans (raw and cooked)
• Raw and cooked vegetables, whole fruit and peelings
• Tea bags and coffee grounds

You may have heard that some tea bags contain plastic. Despite that, Recycle Now advises that used tea bags can go in food waste caddies that are collected by local councils, even if they are sealed with small amounts of polypropylene, as many anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities have a pre-treatment process that separates the tea (organic fraction) and screens out residual plastics. 

PLA-based tea bags will tend to be screened out too as they aren't well broken down by anaerobic digestion, but the tea leaves inside will be recycled.

What can't you put in your food waste bin?

• Packaging of any kind
• Large amounts of liquids, including liquid oil
• Garden waste (unless your garden waste and food waste is collected together)
• 'Compostable' plastic items aside from the food caddy liners used to hold the rest of the food waste

Compostable items such as coffee cups or takeaway containers won't break down reliably in anaerobic digestion and should be put in your general household rubbish.

Food caddy liners may also be removed at the plant, but fragments may still end up in the resulting compost or fertiliser. Compostable fragments will break down more successfully than fossil-fuel plastic based fragments.

Reduce smells and mess with a recommended food waste bin

If you have a food waste collection, you should be given a small food caddy for indoors and a larger one for outside, although this may differ if you live in a flat. 

However, if you're worried about rogue smells, we've reviewed some of the other food waste caddies on the market for keeping in your kitchen. We've assessed how well they keep odours trapped in and how easy they are to clean. 

We've also tested some popular food waste bags for puncture resistance, stretching and durability to ensure you don't experience any breaks or spillages.

Remember to empty your food caddy frequently, especially in hot weather, and wash it in between uses.