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Garden and food waste
Feed your brown bin
Feed your brown bin all your
food and garden waste. It will eat any food waste but we
recommend it’s wrapped in a compostable liner or newspaper.
Your brown bin also loves to
eat greasy pizza boxes and shredded paper.
It is important not to put plastic bags into your brown
bin; these are not compostable and will not rot in the
composting process. Only use compostable liners that show the
seedling logo, or says home compostable.
Visit our dedicated page for more compostable kitchen caddy
liners.
Garden and food waste is collected from homes in Medway every
fortnight on the same day as black sack rubbish is collected.
Find out more about recycling in Medway
Select from the bookmarks below:
Brown
wheelie bin - (Garden and food waste) - How do I recycle my food
waste? - Why recycle food? - Can I use compostable liners
sold in supermarkets? - Can I use plastic carrier
bags? - Why is garden
and food waste bad for landfill? - How do I avoid maggots and
flies? - What happens
to the garden and food waste? - See if you could save
money - Requesting a brown bin -
Brown bin additional
information - Brown reusable sack users
- Food waste collection
trial - Home composting -
Contact Customer
First
Brown wheelie bin - (Garden and food waste)
Garden waste video
Food waste video
What can go in my brown wheelie bin?
- grass clippings;
- garden prunings;
- weeds;
- hedge trimmings;
- egg shells;
- plate scrapings/leftovers;
- tea bags/coffee grounds;
- dead plants;
- small branches no bigger than 5cm (2') in diameter;
- turf (please shake off excess soil/dirt);
- fruit/vegetable peelings;
- meat/fish (with or without bones).
How do I recycle my food waste?
Wrap your food waste in
biodegradable liners, newspaper or paper. This will help to prevent
odours or spillage. Please do not use plastic
bags. Biodegradable liners are available at most local
supermarkets. Place your wrapped food waste into the brown wheelie
bin and put it out for collection.
To make it easier for you to separate out your food waste,
kitchen caddies are available from local shops or by visiting
Get Composting. You
can always reuse an old margarine or ice cream tub to transfer your
scraps to your brown wheelie bin.
Why recycle food?
- Rotting food in landfill generates methane, a greenhouse gas
that is around 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
- Wrapped food waste inside a brown wheelie bin with the lid
closed is more secure than if it was placed into the black plastic
rubbish sack. If animals rip open these black sacks, it’s the
content of the whole sack that could be spilt across the
street.
- Recycling food waste costs about 50 per cent less than if it is
put in a black sack.
- The introduction of food waste collections is in response to
feedback from residents who want to recycle their food waste. (You
don’t have to take part, however it’s great for the environment.
You can choose to continue using the black sack service, which will
remain a weekly service).
- The food waste is converted into compost by a natural process
and the majority of the product is then spread on local farms as a
fertiliser.
Can I use compostable liners
sold in supermarkets?
Yes, as long as it has the BS EN13432 number on
it, is labelled as "home compostable", or has the
seedling logo like the one to the right.
Can I use plastic carrier bags?
No, these are not compostable and will not rot
in the composting
process.
Why is garden and food waste bad for
landfill?
Garden and food waste is organic and as a landfill has
no air in it, because it has all been squashed out, the bacteria
and micro-organisms that break down all this material produce
carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane.
How do I avoid maggots and flies?
Maggots come from flies that lay eggs. If you wrap your food
waste securely in compostable liners or newspaper, place it inside
your brown wheelie bin and close the lid, flies cannot lay the eggs
that produce maggots. Regularly rinsing out your bin will also help
reduce this.
What happens to the garden and food waste?
Your garden and food waste is taken to specialist processors
Countrystyle Recycling, near Sittingbourne, where it is recycled
into compost. All of it stays in the UK and the majority is used in
Kent for agriculture as a peat free nutrient-rich fertiliser to
enhance crop growth. It is also used under fruit trees to reduce
weeds and retain moisture, again adding nutrient to the soil. It
works by using naturally occurring micro-organisms, totally free
from artificial heat and additives. To see how the In-vessel
system works, you can watch an
In-vessel composting video on how the process works.
See if you could save money
It costs the council about 50 per cent less if food waste is
composted, rather than thrown away in black sacks. Collecting food
waste for composting can also rasie your awareness of how much food
you waste and help you reduce your household food bills.
Households in the UK throw away 8.3million tonnes of food every
year. Wasting food costs the average family with children £680 a
year.
To find out more about saving money and food, visit
our Love
Food Hate Waste campaign page.
Requesting a brown bin
There are already more than 70,000 brown bins across Medway, and
requests for a brown bin will be assessed using the following
criteria:
- availability of bins;
- if the property/street is suitable; and
- the resident must be able to place the bin out for
collection.
You are not automatically entitled to a brown bin because you
pay council tax, as a garden waste collection service is provided
by using either a brown wheelie bin or brown sack.
To order a brown bin please contact Customer First.
More about brown bins
You can also use other coloured sacks (maximum of two
additional) for garden waste, as long as they are
not blue or black.
- Please do not use these sacks for food waste.
- Please leave sacks untied so it is easy for the collectors to
check what is in the sack when they are picked up.
- To ensure easy identification, mark your house number or name
neatly on your brown bin.
- If you have a brown bin, you cannot request brown sacks, as
they are provided as an alternative to a brown bin.
- If you have a brown wheelie bin, the council will collect a
maximum of two additional unfastened sacks of garden waste. Any
more should be taken to a Household
Waste and Recycling Centre.
- If the bin is too heavy, a notification will be left and
it will not be emptied as it can break when it is lifted to be
emptied. Compacted garden waste in the bin can easily get stuck and
may not be emptied.
Brown reusable sack users
Due to licensing restrictions, we are only able to collect food
waste from sealed containers, for example, wheelie bins or
dedicated food waste bins. This means that we cannot collect
food waste from brown reusable sacks.
What can go in my brown sacks?
- grass clippings;
- hedge trimmings;
- garden prunings;
- small branches
no bigger than 5cm (2")
in diameter;
- weeds;
- dead plants; and
- turf (please shake off
excess soil/dirt).
Food waste collection trial
Medway Council, in partnership with an EU funded project
(INSPIRER), are
making some changes to the way food waste is collected in
hard-to-reach areas and enabling us to help improve ways of
delivering recycling services for properties that cannot
accommodate a wheelie bin.
Target areas have been selected on the basis of location,
housing type and those where it isn't possible to fit a
wheelie bin, will be trialling two new food waste
containers.
The trial areas are parts of Chatham, Brompton, Luton and
Strood, and if you are part of the trial, you will have
already received your collection containers. This is a limited
trial that we will endeavour to expand at a later date.
What we have provided
To separate your food waste easily from the
rest of your rubbish, we have provided you with:
A food caddy to collect the
food waste in your kitchen
A roll of compostable liners
to line your food caddy
An outside food waste bin
which we will empty every other week
How do I use my food caddy?
Line your food caddy with a compostable liner. Do not
use plastic bags. You can purchase compostable liners at
most local supermarkets, as long as it has the seedling logo (to
the right), the BS N13432 number, or says home compostable. If you
don’t want to buy liners, you can use newspaper, kitchen-roll or
simply put your food waste in loose. Your food caddy is dishwasher
safe.
When your food caddy is full, tie the compostable liner and put
it inside your food waste bin. You may also put loose food directly
into your outside food waste bin.
Keep your food waste bin outside and out of
direct sunlight in your back garden. To stop spills,
lock the outside bin by moving the handle
forward.
Handle back =
Unlocked
Handle forward = Locked
What can I put in my food caddy?
Bread and
pastries
Dairy
Fish
Fruit and
vegetables
Meat and
bones
Tea and coffee grounds
Yes please
- Bread, cakes and pastries
- All dairy products such as cheese
- Takeaway leftovers
- Rice, pasta and beans
- Fruit and vegetables - raw and cooked
- Uneaten food from your plates and dishes
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
- Meat and fish - raw and cooked including bones
- Eggs
No thanks
- Packaging of any sort
- Plastic bags
- Liquids
- Oil or liquid fat
Tips for recycling food waste
- Plastic bags or packaging cannot be composted so please do not
put them in your food waste bin. We will be unable to collect it if
you do.
- Your food waste will be collected on the same day as the garden
waste service. Please check your waste and recycling calendar or
contact Customer First.
- Please put out your food waste bin on the correct day by 7am on
the edge of your property, where it is clearly visible from the
road.
- If you use a compostable liner, tie it up to keep your food
waste bin clean. Remember good hygiene by washing hands, caddies
and surfaces with soap and hot water.
- The caddies are dishwasher safe.
- Mark your house number on your bins so that you can identify
which is yours.
Ever thought of composting?
Waste from your garden and some uncooked food waste can be
composted at
home, providing you with the benefits for your flowers, fruit
or
vegetables.
Discount compost bins and other accessories, such as food waste
caddies and liners can be bought from Get
Composting or by phoning 08445
714444.
Please contact Customer First if:
- you would like a brown bin;
- you would like some brown sacks;
- your bin is lost or damaged;
- you would like to return your brown bin;
- your collection was missed.
Please note that if your waste and/or recycling are missed, you
must notify the council within 24 hours.
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