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Food Waste Frequently Asked Questions
2. Why is NHDC introducing food waste into the brown bin collection scheme?
3. When will the food waste collections start?
4. How will the new service work?
5. What can I put in my brown bin?
6. Can I put soil and rubble in my brown bin?
7. How can I keep my food waste separate in the kitchen?
8. Can I use bags to put my food waste in?
9. Will my bin smell and be messy?
10. Will having food waste in my brown bin for two weeks attract vermin or flies?
11. I am already composting my vegetable, fruit peelings and leaves/twigs- should I carry on doing so?
12. What should I do if I have more food, garden waste and cardboard than fits into the brown bin?
13. Where can I put my cat litter, dog faeces and disposable nappies?
14. Where does the contents of the brown bin go and what happens to it?
15. I live in a flat. Do I get a food waste collection?
16. Who do I contact to get more information or to report a missed collection?
17. Why should I prioritise putting food waste in my brown bin?
18. Why do I have just one brown bin?
Food waste is any unwanted food that has not been eaten for any reason. All food must be taken out of its packaging (unless it is cardboard or paper) before being placed in the brown bin. It can be food that has gone past its use by date, is mouldy or food that is leftover from meals. Leftover pet food can also be put in the brown bin.
2. Why is NHDC introducing food waste into the brown bin collection scheme?
We need to divert as much bio-degradable material from landfill as possible which is why we are starting to collect food waste with the card and garden waste. Around 25% of the waste in the average household waste bin is food waste. Food waste is one of the major contributors to climate change as it emits large amounts of methane. This new addition to the brown bin service will help North Herts to meet our local and national recycling and landfill diversion targets as well as helping to control the rising cost of putting waste into landfill therefore controlling future Council tax burden.
3. When will the food waste collections start?
Food waste can be added to your brown bins from w/c 2nd June 2008.
4. How will the new service work?
If your bin is located far from your kitchen, you could use any container to collect your food waste in, then empty it as required into the bin. Residents could collect their food waste in any type of sealable tub e.g. an old ice cream or margarine tub.
The brown bin will still be collected every two weeks on the same week as your recycling boxes. Please remember to put your brown bin out by 7.30 am on the day of collection and bring it in again as soon as possible afterwards.
5. What can I put in my brown bin?
Please see our leaflet and bin sticker
6. Can I put soil and rubble in my brown bin?
No. The contents of the brown bin should be organic materials which can be composted. Soil is already broken down organic material so will not break down further and rubble will not change. Both these items will contaminate the quality of the compost and if found in the bins, the bins will not be emptied until they are removed.
7. How can I keep my food waste separate in the kitchen?
If your bin is located far from your kitchen, you could use a plastic tub to collect your food waste in, then empty it as required into the brown bin. Residents could collect their food waste in any type of sealable tub e.g. an old ice cream or margarine tub .
Other councils’ schemes are running very successfully with householders using any container they wish to collect the food waste in.
If you wish to buy a kitchen caddy they are available for purchase via Recycle Now or from high street retailers. If you do wish to use a kitchen caddy please do not line it with a bag as we can not accept any type of bag in the brown bin (except paper).
8. Can I use bags to put my food waste in?
Please do not use any kind of bag except paper, even those which say they are made from corn starch or are compostable. Our crews will be instructed not to take any brown bin which has bags in as it is very difficult to tell the difference between compostable bags and other plastic bags. Bags, even compostable ones do not break down sufficiently in the time taken for the other organic waste to compost down, therefore we can not take your bin if it has any bags in. Instead, wrap your food waste in newspaper / paper bags if you wish to wrap it. Primarily newspaper should be placed in the blue box for recycling but you can use some to wrap food scraps if you wish and put it in the brown bin.
9. Will my bin smell and be messy?
No, not if you wrap your food waste up in newspaper and keep the bin lid closed. Putting in cardboard at the base of the bin will help to soak up any liquids. If you have any garden waste, you can place this over your food waste to keep any potential smells in. Your bin should not smell any more with the new scheme than currently. If however, you do find the bin smells, you can use the services of a bin cleaning company.
10. Will having food waste in my brown bin for two weeks attract vermin or flies?
If you keep your food waste in a sealed container e.g. an old ice cream tub so flies can not lay eggs on it and transfer the waste food regularly to your brown bin and keep the brown bin lid closed, flies, maggots or vermin will not be able to get to the waste.
11. I am already composting my vegetable, fruit peelings and leaves / twigs- should I carry on doing so?
Yes, if you already compost at home please carry on as this reduces the carbon footprint of the waste being moved around the district and frees up capacity in the new composting plant for material that can not be composted at home (cooked food, meat, fish, bones etc). It is still worth recycling your meat, fish and cooked leftovers in the brown bin even if it doesn’t look very much to you, it does all add up!
12. What should I do if I have more food, garden waste and cardboard than fits into the brown bin?
We suggest that you prioritise the waste you put into the brown bin i.e. cooked food, meat, fish etc as these can not be composted at home whereas vegetables, fruit peelings and light garden waste can be. We ask that you put your food waste into the brown bin as a priority over garden waste as food waste is much more damaging to the environment if sent to landfill than garden waste is. If you have any extra garden waste you can either keep it back until the next collection, purchase a subsidised home composter or take it to the local Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC). Please note the HWRC’s CAN NOT ACCEPT food waste.
There is no longer a 25% cardboard limit in your brown bin so you can put in as much cardboard as you can fit in.
13. Where can I put my cat litter, dog faeces and disposable nappies?
These should not go into the brown bin but instead be placed in your grey wheeled bin, preferably put in a carrier bag first and tied up. Only animal litter that is wood based can go into the brown bin.
14. Where does the contents of the brown bin go and what happens to it?
All the food, cardboard and garden waste goes to Cumberlow Green composting facility near Baldock. The waste goes through an enclosed in vessel composting process which breaks down the waste at a high enough temperature to kill off any pathogens or bacteria e.g. salmonella. Food waste has to be treated at an Animal By Product Regulation compliant (ABPR) facility which Cumberlow now is due to its new processing technology. After the waste has been composted at a specified temperature for the required period of time, the compost that comes out is a high quality, sterile soil conditioner called Ace of Herts which is available for purchase around the county.
15. I live in a flat. Do I get a food waste collection?
It is not feasible operationally to offer a food waste collection to flats at the current time. We are looking into the possibility of providing a cardboard collection from flats.
16. Who do I contact to get more information or to report a missed collection?
For more information on the scheme please contact 01462 474000 or to report a missed collection please contact 0800 3286023. All missed collections must be reported within 48 hours.
17. Why should I prioritise putting food waste in my brown bin?
There has been some confusion over the suggestion that residents should prioritise food waste into the bin. It is not necessary to wait until the bin is due to be collected before putting in either food waste, cardboard or garden waste. We are suggesting people make sure that, as they fill their bin, they try to leave enough space to get in all their food waste, then all their cardboard, with garden waste the third priority.
If there is any garden waste left over, we would prefer people to compost it at home.
Prioritising in this way is particularly important at this time of year when some people with larger gardens have a lot of green waste during the growing season. Food waste when sent to landfill creates the most methane and that is why that should be the top priority.
18. Why do I have just one brown bin?
NHDC provides each household that has a garden, one brown bin for food waste, cardboard and garden waste. This 240 litre bin allows residents to recycle the most environmentally harmful (in terms of methane emissions) food waste and cardboard but still encourages residents to compost at home. Composting at home is the ideal situation in terms of reducing carbon emissions caused by the collection and transportation of garden waste over the district to a central facility. Your council tax covers one brown bin to be collected every fortnight only. Legally we do not have to collect garden waste from residents as it is not deemed part of the household waste stream and we can impose a charge for this. We choose to provide a brown bin collection service (within the council tax) to help meet our landfill diversion targets and to respond to resident's wishes. By diverting as much waste from landfill as possible, we are hoping to avoid any landfill penalties we may incur in the future and help control the growing cost of putting waste into landfill.
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