Food Waste Bin

Message from Eastleigh Borough Council:

Recycle your food waste into energy to power people’s homes.

Your brown food waste bin is collected every week. The food waste bin is collected alongside your green recycling bin one week and with your black household waste bin the next. 

Use your small kitchen caddy to collect food waste each day and then transfer it into your larger brown food waste bin ready for collection.

Order a food waste bin and kitchen caddy

The delivery time for a food waste bin or kitchen caddy is currently 20 working days. Food waste collection is not available for residents in flats with communal bins. 

Why recycle your food waste?

By using a process called 'anaerobic digestion' we can turn food waste into renewable energy and a useful soil conditioner.

• Eastleigh's food waste will provide enough energy to power 185 homes each year
• Each lorry load of food waste will generate enough energy to power your fridge for up to four years
• A single caddy load of food waste can generate enough electricity to toast eight slices of bread
• Recycling just one tea bag a day for a month can produce the energy to make another five cups
• Soil conditioner produced from broken down food waste improves the soil in local outdoor spaces like parks, farms and gardens

Food waste that is put into your black household waste bin does not get recycled. Instead, it goes to be incinerated, wasting this valuable resource.

What can you put in your food waste bin?

All your raw and cooked food waste leftovers including:

• Teabags and coffee grounds
• Fruit and vegetables
• Meat and bones
• Bread and pastries
• Fish
• Dairy
• Shredded paper
• Cut flowers

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

• Packaging
• Plastic bags
• Glass
• Cat litter/animal faeces

Wrapping your food waste

Please remember to line your kitchen caddy with newspaper or a compostable liner, as all food waste must be wrapped. You can simply use a sheet or two of newspaper to wrap your food waste in or, if you prefer to use a compostable liners, you can purchase these from most major supermarkets. Choose liners designed to fit a seven litre caddy and make sure that they are fully compostable. Look out for the seedlings logo. 

Due to health and safety requirements, we are not able to collect food waste that is loose in the bin. 

How can I reduce the amount of food waste I produce?

You can find information on how to reduce food waste on the Love Food, Hate Waste website.