From Monday 30 May 2011 we will no longer be able to accept any food waste in the brown recycling bin.
This means that residents will need to stop putting kitchen waste into their brown bin including all fruit and vegetables, peelings, fruit cores, banana skins, tea bags, coffee grounds and any other food items.
Previously, the council has encouraged residents to dispose of their raw fruit and vegetable waste in the brown bin, which is composted in windrows. A windrow is an open aired composting method.
The Animal By-Products regulations were introduced to prevent another outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in cattle. To prevent a reoccurrence, all waste containing meat or other animal by products, for example eggs, milk, etc must be disposed of or treated in a controlled environment and not a windrow. The guidance takes the view that even though fruit and vegetable wastes are not meat or milk products, they may have come into contact with such items within domestic kitchens.
Please see the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) website for further information. Please scroll down and click on the link to the Guidance on the regulations [PDF] (300K). Section 8(c) of this document advises that catering waste, including all domestic kitchen waste is subject to the same regulations and cannot be composted in open-air windrows.
A more detailed definition of catering waste can also be found on the DEFRA website with a useful question and answer section for anyone wanting further information on this.
The cost of treating food waste in a controlled environment is significantly more expensive than windrow composting which is used in North Lincolnshire. Therefore it will be necessary to remove all food waste including any fruit and veg from the brown bin.
In order to help prevent you having to put your fruit and vegetable peelings into your general waste bin, the council has teamed up with Straight plc to offer home composters at affordable prices. Please see the leaflet below or visit our home composting page for more information.
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If you are unable to compost at home you will now need to put all of your fruit and vegetable waste, tea bags and coffee grounds into your general waste bin.
Obviously it would be better if food wasn't wasted in the first place, which is why the council is working to support the national Love Food Hate Waste campaign. For more information on how you can reduce your food waste visit the Love Food Hate Waste website.
Most households in North Lincolnshire have a brown bin for the collection of garden waste.
Collection dates of your wheeled bins can be found on your calendar. If you do not have a calendar, why not check out our waste and recycling collection dates page to find out when your wheeled bins will be collected over the next four weeks? If you'd like a sticker of your collection dates, please telephone our customer helpline on 01724 297000.
Yes please...
- Grass clippings
- Light garden prunings and hedge trimmings
- Flowers and pot plants
- Leaves
- Small twigs and branches (no larger than 100mm/4 inches in diameter).
No thanks...
- All fruit and vegetable waste including peelings
- Any food waste including meat, fish and bones, cooked or uncooked
- Eggshells
- Bin liners and plastic bags including biodegradable bags
- Polystyrene and plastic plant pots
- Cardboard
- Pet litter
- Disposable nappies
- Vacuum cleaner contents
- Ash, metal, glass, plastic, newspapers and magazines
- Anything that will not rot.
Please ensure that your brown bin does not contain any of the above materials. If it does, its contents cannot be composted, your bin willl not be collected and you will have to make your own arrangements to empty it.
Managing the risk of herbicides or weedkillers
Householders are reminded to read herbicide or weedkillers product labels carefully before buying and using them, particularly bearing in mind the instructions on what to do with any garden plant wastes treated with the product. Any composting restrictions stated apply to home composting and the council’s brown wheeled bin collection scheme.
Herbicide or weedkillers products licensed for domestic use commonly contain Clopyralid. Residents who use these products on their grass are encouraged not to dispose of grass clippings via their brown bin or home composting for at least the first four mowings after the product has been applied. The Association for Organics Recycling have suggested grass cuttings are left on the lawn, this practice is commonly known as ‘grasscycling.’
Household recycling centres
Garden waste can also be taken to your local household recycling centre.
Note: To ensure a collection, please place your bin at the edge of your property closest to the road by 7am on your day of collection.
New and replacement bins
New residents are provided with a brown bin free of charge.
You may also be eligible for a free replacement bin if yours has been lost, damaged or stolen. For more details and to apply for a new or replacement brown bin please fill in our online wheeled bin enquiry form.
If you need further information, please contact waste management by:
Useful links:
Please note: The above document is in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need a suitable reader to view it. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).