Food waste caddies

If you live in a house, we will provide you with one five-litre kitchen caddy and one 23-litre kerbside caddy for all of your food waste. The kerbside caddy is collected weekly and should be placed on the boundary of your property no later than 6.45am on the day of collection. The vehicles that collect your food waste have a split-back design, allowing food waste and residual waste to be collected separately in the same vehicle.

If you do not have a kitchen or kerbside caddy you can request one using our online form:

Request a kitchen or kerbside caddy 

If you live in a flat, you will have been given a five-litre green kitchen caddy and an outside food waste bin. Depending on where you live, your food waste bin will either be your own 23-litre green kerbside caddy, or a communal brown-lidded wheeled bin, for you to share with your neighbours.

• Your outside bin will be collected weekly
• Do not put food in your outside bin loose, wrap it using a liner, bag or newspaper
• If you have your own kerbside caddy, please make sure this is in place by 6.45am on your normal collection day.

If you have recently moved in and do not have a kitchen caddy, or a guide on how to recycle your food waste, you can request these by emailing recycle@dacorum.gov.uk.

Due to the complexities of flats in high streets, these properties do not currently have food waste recycling available. In this case, please continue to place your food waste into your grey-lidded bin or purple sacks.

What to put in your food caddy

Your food waste collection from your kerbside caddy is for all food waste. Any packaging should be removed before the food is put into your caddy:

• All uneaten food and plate scrapings
• Raw and cooked meat/fish, including bones
• Fruit and vegetables including raw and cooked vegetables and peelings
• Baked goods - for example, bread, cakes and pastries
• Out of date or mouldy food
• Rice, pasta, beans
• Tea bags and coffee grounds
• Dairy products, such as cheese
• Eggs and egg shells
• Solid fats and oils (we cannot accept liquids)

What not to put in your food caddy

• Packaging - no cellophane, polystyrene, nets, pots, tubs, trays or jars (soft plastic bags can be used as caddy liners).
• Flowers and leaves from house plants - these should be put in the green-lidded bin.
• Liquids - for example, milk, fats and oils. Oils can be stored in a disposable plastic bottle and recycled at the oil bank at your local Recycling Centre. Please don't pour fats and oils down the sink as this can cause serious drain and sewer issues.

If the wrong items are found in your kerbside caddy we will not be able to empty it. Our crews will record the problem and leave an advisory note on your bin. It will be your responsibility to remove the items of contamination for the next collection.

Please see our  Dacorum Recycles leaflet (PDF 7MB), which contains information on what can and cannot be recycled in your bins. You may wish to print this off as a reminder for your household to ensure that everyone is recycling all that they can.

If the leaflet or the information provided on this page does not answer your recycling query, you can email us at recycle@dacorum.gov.uk.

How to use your caddies

You should use your kitchen caddy to collect all food waste from your home. It is small and so can be stored easily. The clip close lid will minimise smells and stop flies. For hygiene and convenience, you can line your kitchen caddy with a compostable liner or plastic bag (such as carrier bags, bread bags, cereal bags) and put food waste in. Or you can wrap your food waste in newspaper.

The food waste from your kitchen caddy should then be transferred into the larger kerbside caddy, which you put out for collection.

The kerbside caddy has a lockable lid. When the handle is in the upright to front position the lid will be locked. Move the handle toward the back of the caddy and it will unlock, allowing you to lift the lid and put your food waste inside. Please ensure when not in use that the caddy lid is in the locked position to prevent vermin getting inside.

When the kerbside caddy is placed out for collection, please leave the handle in the upright position for our collection crews.

Lining your kitchen caddy

You can line your kitchen caddy with a compostable liner, newspaper or any soft plastic bag which you may ordinarily throw away. For example, carrier bags, bread bags, cereal bags or fruit and vegetable bags.

Please note: this does not include plastic containers, pots, tubs or trays. Please continue to recycle these in your blue-lidded bin.

If you wish to use compostable liners, you can buy these online or check your local supermarket. They are also available to purchase from The Forum, Hemel Hempstead and The Civic Centre in Berkhamsted.

Missed collections

If you put your kerbside caddy out for collection on the correct day and we missed it, you can report it online. Please ensure you report your missed caddy within 48 hours of your scheduled collection day.
Report a missed bin collection

Top tips for food waste recycling

Avoiding smells

One of the key benefits of a separate food waste collection is that you can empty your kitchen caddy more regularly than your ordinary general waste bin, as it is smaller. This will help to avoid any unwanted smells.

Also, kerbside caddies are collected weekly, whereas grey bins are collected fortnightly. Using a liner and washing out your caddy regularly will help prevent smells, too.

Preventing flies

Food waste will not create flies or maggots on its own if correctly managed. However, these may appear if the food waste is left out in the open for flies to lay their eggs. You can prevent your food waste from attracting flies by:

• always emptying food waste straight into the caddy and not leaving it out on the kitchen side
• keeping the lid of your kitchen caddy closed and locked when not in use
• tightly sealing your liner before disposing of it in the kerbside caddy
• regularly washing out your caddy
• keeping the lid of your kerbside caddy closed and locked when not in use.

These tips are especially important to follow in hot weather when the flies’ life cycle is shorter.

Reducing food waste

Did you know that by reducing the amount of food you throw away, you could save up to £720 a year?

You can help tackle the food waste problem by supporting our #WorthSaving campaign. It's full of great advice on how to reduce waste through planning meals in advance, storing food correctly, cooking the right amount, using date labels and loving your leftovers. Find out more on our Reducing food waste page.

What happens to my food waste?

Find out more on our What happens to my recycling? page.