The following advice is aimed at helping you get the best out of this new collection service. Our guidance aims to make food waste as simple as possible and help make it an easy part of your daily routine.

Below we have tried to cover the most important aspects of the service but for everything else we try to cover all your food waste related questions in our FAQ’s Food waste FAQ’s – Rother District Council

When is my collection?

Food waste collections are weekly. They are a totally new separate collection and are not being carried out by any of your existing collection crews i.e. waste, recycling or garden waste.

The easiest way to find out your start date and the day of the week your food waste collection will be is by looking it up using the following link below.

Find My Nearest – Rother District Council

Please note if your food waste collections are due to start from week commencing Monday 13th April your collection dates will not show yet, the collection dates will be added nearer to the start.

Collection start date letters have also been sent out to all households advising of your start date and your day of collection. Please note for those with collections starting on week commencing Monday13th April letters may not have been received but will be sent out shortly.

Where do I keep my food waste containers?

Every property in Rother should have received a small all grey 5 litre food waste kitchen caddy. This caddy is designed to be used inside your kitchen where you prepare your food. Individual properties and most small blocks of flats should also have received a larger 23 litre caddy with an orange lid. This is to be used to present your food waste for collection each week.

larger blocks of flats should have received a food waste wheelie bin(s) which has an orange lid with a smaller circular lid in the top which you place your food waste (in liners) into. This food waste wheelie bin is to be kept in the bin store area / collection point.

What is food waste?

Food waste is only the things that you eat or the left overs from food such as bones, fat, gristle and vegetable/fruit peelings etc. See further down for more detail on what you can place in your food waste containers.

DO NOT place food packaging in your food waste container, the majority of this can be recycled in your recycling bin.

Food waste liners

You should of received a complimentary roll of compostable food waste liners with your food waste containers.

you must at all times use compostable food waste liners, food waste must not be placed into any of the food waste containers loose. Using compostable food waste liners greatly reduces any unpleasant spillages and odour, this is beneficial for both residents and the operatives collecting the food waste.

When you need more liners the compostable food liners are widely available at major supermarkets and other convenience stores. Please make sure the liners you purchase are 100% compostable by looking out for seedlings logo on the packaging Seedlings logo . You must not use any other form of bag or liner as these are not fully compostable and will be viewed as contamination, your food waste will not be collected if this is the case.

We recommend the best liners to use are 7 litres as these fit best into the 5 litre kitchen caddies. 5 litre liners are too small and are likely to collapse into the caddy and/or rip easily when they are overfilled.

Great food waste liners tip !

You can use a strong large elastic band around the rim of the kitchen caddy to keep your compostable liner in place. Just remember it cannot go into the food waste but its great at holding the liner in place !

Don’t overfill your kitchen caddy

Its best to only fill your kitchen caddy to a maximum of 3/4 of its capacity. This leaves enough space to easily get the liner out without spillages and to be able to twist or tie a knot in the top of the liner before placing it in your larger food waste container for collection. Filling your kitchen caddy right to the top may make it difficult to get out so remember to leave a little space to make things easier and less messy.

Liquids

Please avoid putting in any liquid form of food waste such as milk. Sauces from plate scrapings are fine but very wet forms of food waste are to be avoided as they will speed up the breakdown of the liner and will likely lead to unpleasant spillages and mess.

Scavenging animals

With food waste containers left outside they will inevitably be targeted by scavenging animals looking for food. The 23 litre caddy with the orange lid can be locked by lifting the handle to the upright position. This will deter most scavenging but we would recommend when it is not collection day that if possible you place this container somewhere that animals cant easily get to it such as a shed, garage, greenhouse or outhouse. Alternatively storing it off the ground will make it more difficult for some animals to get to it. The communal food waste container used for blocks of flats should be fine and deter most animals providing the lid is kept locked and food waste is placed into the flap in the lid.

What can I put in my food waste caddy?

All your raw and cooked food waste, including:

All uneaten food and plate scrapings, dairy products (except liquids), cheese, eggs, bread, cakes, pastries, meat, bones, tea bags, coffee grounds, fruit, vegetables, peelings, fish, bones, rice, pasta, beans.

Remember, you can also put your mouldy and out of date food (without packaging) in your kitchen caddy.

how to avoid unpleasant odour and flies

Other than when you are placing food waste into the caddy we would recommend you keep the lids closed on all containers at all times. With both caddies the lid is locked when the handle is placed in the upright position.

With items such as a chicken carcass or a significant amount of leftover meat it maybe better to place it into a food waste liner and put it immediately into the outside food waste caddy remembering to close and lock the lid afterwards.

Using the compostable liners should greatly reduce spillages which will lead to your caddies staying cleaner for longer. We would however recommend that its a good habit to regularly wash out and disinfect your caddies to keep them clean and fresh.

While its not good to waste the compostable liners it maybe sensible in the warmer months not to wait to fill up your kitchen caddy if it takes several days. If the kitchen caddy is producing a strong unpleasant odour then its probably best to empty it, give the kitchen caddy a good clean before placing a new liner in it for the next lot of food waste.