Food bins at home

Plenty of households in England have a small food bin in the kitchen and a larger one outside. The council collects what goes in them. A few rules set how often, and what you need to use.

Weekly and free

Defra's guidance to councils on household recycling in England says, "Food waste must be collected weekly and free of charge." It says each household should be given two bins for food waste. One is "a small bin suitable for the kitchen (often called a caddy)" and the other is a larger bin for outside, for collection.

Some councils collect food and garden waste together. Defra says that service must still be weekly, and the council may charge only for the garden waste.

Liners

Defra says, "There is no requirement for caddy liners to be provided to households or for them to be used." Where people do use liners, it asks councils to promote the ones with the lowest carbon and wider environmental impacts.

The materials it lists include paper, reused newspaper, repurposed plastic bags, ordinary plastic such as polyethylene, and several kinds of bio-based plastic. It does not recommend liners made from fossil-based biodegradable or fossil-based compostable plastic. Defra says it will review that list regularly.

What goes in

Your council's own list is the one to follow where you live. Defra tells councils they "do not need to collect any plastic packaging or non-packaging items labelled as ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’, including coffee pods". It also says, "Food waste caddy liners used to hold food waste can be collected."

If your council has not started yet

The household rules took effect on 31 March 2026, unless a transitional arrangement is in place. Defra says a transitional arrangement means a council has a later start date for collecting food waste, set out in the commencement regulations. Your council can tell you its date.

Home composting

Defra asks councils to promote home composting where possible. It adds, "However, not all food waste is suitable for home composting, so organic waste collections must still be offered to all households." WRAP's guide to home composting describes it as a way to divert garden waste and some uncooked fruit and vegetable waste.

Where it goes

Defra says the preferred way to treat food waste collected on its own is anaerobic digestion. It describes this as a form of recycling where the digestate produced can be spread on land as fertiliser.

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