Households in Wirral have a weekly food waste collection. Food waste is collected on the same day as your green and grey bins.
Use the bin calendar to check your weekly food waste collections day. It will be shown as 'Grey food waste - Small grey' next to a grey triangle.
Using your food waste caddy
- line your smaller kitchen caddy with a liner or plastic bag
- put your food waste into the smaller caddy. You can use your own container if you prefer
- tie the liner handles and put it in your outdoor caddy. Do not let the smaller kitchen caddy get too heavy before you empty it
- lock the outdoor caddy by lifting the handle upright
- put the outdoor caddy out every week with your green and grey bins
- place the outdoor caddy on the ground next to your other bins
Caddy liners
If you have not received your food waste cadddy
What you can recycle
You can recycle all food waste, including:
- meat, fish and bones (raw or cooked)
- dairy products, eggs and cheese
- bread, cakes and pastries
- fruit, vegetables and peelings (raw or cooked)
- rice, pasta and beans
- tea bags and coffee grounds
- all uneaten food including plate scrapings, mouldy and out of date food
What you cannot recycle
Do not put these items in your caddy:
- packaging
- liquids such as milk, oil or liquid fat
- non-food waste
How to get new caddy liners
If you need new liners, tie one on the handle of your outdoor caddy when you put it out. We will leave a new roll of liners in the caddy.
You can order them on this website.
Why do we need to recycle food waste?
Food waste is 70% water. It is more efficient to recycle it than to burn it.
Globally, food waste together with food loss produces 8–10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Almost five times the total emissions of the aviation sector.
Recycling your food waste will reduce smells in your green non-recyclable waste bin. Your food waste caddy will be collected every week. Your green bin is collected every 2 weeks.
What happens to the food after it is collected?
Your food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion facility. It is then used to generate a natural form of energy, biogas, and a bio-fertiliser used in farming.
When recycled, food waste is used to:
- make an alternative to fossil fuels called biogas
- produce bio-fertiliser for farming
Why are the caddy liners plastic and not biodegradable?
Caddy liners are provided to help keep your food waste caddy clean. You can use any bag to line your caddy. This includes used bread bags and plastic food wrappers.
Food waste from Wirral is taken to a facility in North Wales. During the process, all bags and liners are removed.
They are removed because they do not break down during the treatment process. This means compostable and paper liners do not provide any extra environmental benefit. All the bags are sent to an energy-from-waste facility to create green energy.
Compostable and paper liners are more expensive. This is why all authorities across the Liverpool City Region opted for polythene liners.
Making space for a caddy
You can keep the kitchen caddy:
- under the sink
- next to your bin
- on your worktop
You can also use your own container.
If you do not produce much food waste
There is no amount too small. Some waste like banana skins, tea bags and meat and fish bones is unavoidable. They can all be recycled.
If you already compost
You can still use this service for items you cannot compost, such as:
- meat and bones
- dairy
- cooked food
- plate scrapings