We collect food waste from most households on the same day we collect the general waste and recycling. It is collected using a different vehicle, so your food caddy will be picked up at a different time to your other waste.
Recycling food waste saves energy, as well as money, so the more food everyone recycles, the better it is for the environment and Council taxpayers.
If you use communal waste bins or you live in certain housing blocks or estates, you will not have received food waste caddies. Instead, you will get new communal food waste facilities at a later date.
Your food waste caddies
We provide households with a small indoor food waste caddy, and a larger caddy for outdoors.
Your small indoor caddy
Most people keep this caddy in the kitchen so it's easy to scrape plate leftovers straight in.
You can line this caddy with a compostable liner (available from many supermarkets) or with a sheet of newspaper. Never use plastic bags.
Your outdoor caddy
Every few days, or when it’s full, empty the contents of your indoor caddy into your outdoor caddy, including the liner, and lock the lid by putting the handle in the down position.
Put this caddy at the edge of your property close to the road or at your agreed collection point, by 7am on your usual collection day. Find out where to present your caddy if you live in New Ash Green.
If you live in a large household or generate a lot of food waste and need extra capacity, you can order an additional outdoor caddy.
What goes in your caddy
You can put all cooked and raw food in your caddy, including:
- Leftovers
- Out of date & mouldy food
- Meat & fish bones
- Tea bags & coffee grounds
- Egg & nut shells
- Fruit & vegetable peelings
- Pet food
- Plastic bags and food packaging shouldn't go in your caddy.
Watch our video to find out more:
Report a missed collection
If your food waste has not been collected on your collection day by 4pm and you had put it outside in the correct location by 7am, you can report it as a missed collection.
Request a replacement caddy
Report a damaged or lost food caddy and request a new one.
New residents
If you are new to the area and don’t have a food caddy, please request a replacement caddy.
Further information
Turning your food waste into energy
About 30% of our household waste, by weight, is made up of cooked and raw food. All food waste we collect will be taken to an ‘anaerobic digestion’ plant where bacteria break down the food to produce natural biogas.
The gas is captured and used for cooking, electricity production and other purposes and even powers the anaerobic digestion plant. This is a renewable form of energy, which is better for the environment than using fossil fuel.
The process also creates quality fertiliser, making anaerobic digestion one of the most sustainable waste treatments available.
Watch a video about anaerobic digestion
Food waste collections will save taxpayers' money
Recycling food waste costs a fraction of the price of disposing of it in your general waste.
Kent County Council saves approximately £130 for every tonne of food waste that goes to the anaerobic digestion plant compared to incineration.
We expect to collect at least 5,000 tonnes of food waste every year, saving Kent County Council around £650,000 per annum.
Food waste collections will improve our recycling rates
To protect the environment, improve the economy, incentivise waste reduction, reduce landfill and improve the re-use and recycling of materials, the Government has set ever increasing recycling rate targets on local councils for decades. The current recycling rate target for councils is 55%, rising to 65% by 2035. Many councils already exceed these targets but with a current rate of only about 38%, Sevenoaks District has some way to go.
Offering food waste collections will align us with the majority of other councils and will help increase our recycling rates, helping us to move towards the Government target.
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