If you live in a communal property, find out about when your food waste will be collected and the how it is recycled.
From Monday 30 March 2026, we will be launching a new food waste recycling service, including for properties with communal waste collections, like flats.
We will provide you with a free 5-litre kitchen caddy and orange-lidded communal food waste bin.
We will confirm how you will get your caddy in early 2026. You can also purchase your own kitchen caddy if you want to.
We will also give you an orange-lidded communal food waste bin for you to empty your waste into. This will usually be stored with the rest of your communal bins.
If you don’t have a landlord because you own your property or you are a council tenant, you can get in touch with our bins and waste team on 01227 947 860.
1. Line your kitchen caddy.
2. Scrape your food waste into the kitchen caddy.
3. When it is full, tie up the liner and put the bag into your orange-lidded caddy outside. Make sure your it is put in a visible place on your collection day.
You can recycle all your food waste, including:
You should not put any of these materials in your caddy:
You can also find out what other food waste can and can't go in your caddy.
You can search for your collection day a couple of weeks before the service launches.
Your food waste will be collected on the same day each week, but it might be on a different day to your other waste collections.
If your food bin hasn’t been collected, you can report it to us. You must let us know by midnight on the day after your collection date.
Report a missed food waste collection
When food waste is recycled, it is taken to an anaerobic digestion facility Kent where it is turned into biogas (a natural source of energy) and a fertiliser used in farming.
The biogas is fed to the national grid and powers the plant itself which is an excellent alternative to fossil fuels.
You can also find out more about how your food waste is recycled and what it is used for.
Since food waste is made up of 70% water, processing it as part of your general waste through incineration uses more energy. This means recycling is a more energy and cost-efficient way of disposing of your food.
Feeding the biogas produced from recycling food back to the national grid is also another way of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
Recycling your food scraps not only helps us reduce the amount they spend on processing your waste, but it also plays a big part in helping to protect the environment. For example, a single recycled banana peel can generate enough electricity to fully charge your smartphone twice.
You can find extra details about food waste recycling in your house, including what equipment we will provide you with, when collections will start and how to report a damaged bin.