Your new weekly food waste collection

Your new caddies!

You should have received two food waste caddies:

• The smaller caddy is to store your food waste inside the home.
• The food waste can then be transferred to the larger caddy, kept outside and used for collection. 
• The size of the smaller caddy is 5L or 7L and the size of the larger one is 23L. A 10L liner will fit your internal caddy and a 25L liner will fit your external caddy.

How it works

Step 1

Whilst you don’t have to line the caddy, doing so will keep the caddy cleaner and will be easier to transfer the food waste to the larger caddy. One free roll of compostable liners is provided with the caddy and replacements can be purchased from supermarkets. Alternatively, you can use:

• other carrier or plastic bags and liners
• food bags (e.g. an old bread bag)
• or wrap food in newspaper or kitchen roll

You must not use black rubbish bags.

Step 2

Place your food waste into the small caddy inside your home.

Step 3

Tie a knot in the bag and transfer to the larger caddy outside. Don’t let the caddy get too full!

Step 4

On the larger caddy, pull the handle forward until you hear a click to keep the lid securely shut.

Please place the handle upright when you put your caddy out for collection.

What happens to it?

Each year in Suffolk, we throw over 50,000 tonnes of food into our rubbish bins! This is not only the leftovers on our plates, but lots of other things such as veg peeling, fruit cores, meat and dairy products, tea bags and food that has gone out of date.

Did you know the average family of four could save around £1000 a year if they used up all the food they buy? We know it’s very difficult to stop all waste, so that’s why we are introducing a new food waste collection.

This food recycling will be collected by your Council’s recycling and waste crews and delivered to a facility where two products are made:

• Biogas is used as a renewable energy source to generate heat, electricity, and fuel by capturing and burning methane produced from organic waste, reducing our need for fossil fuels.
• Biofertiliser is a nutrient rich fertiliser which will be spread on farmers’ fields across East Anglia.

Suffolk’s food waste is taken to two Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facilities, Biogen in Halstead, Essex and BioteCH4 in March, Cambridgeshire. It is at these facilities where the food waste is turned into both a biofuel and a biofertiliser. Early in the AD process, all bags are separated from the food. The compostable liners don’t break down properly in the conditions used for Anaerobic Digestion and plastic bags cannot be recycled so are disposed of separately. The remaining food waste is then processed into a high quality biofertiliser which can be spread on farmland.

Whilst you don’t have to line the smaller indoor caddy, doing so will keep the caddy cleaner and make it easier for you to transfer food waste to the larger outdoor caddy. We recommend you use biodegradable liners as they are better for the environment. We will accept food waste loose, in plastic bags such as a carrier bag or an old bread bag (not black bin bags), or in compostable bags.

The food waste recycling service is one of several changes being made to recycling and waste services across Suffolk in 2026, designed to make it easier for everyone to recycle more.