Simpler Recycling - Food Waste (For Residents)
Why are collections being introduced?
In the UK, households unfortunately throw away a lot of food waste. Currently, 60% of food waste in the UK is wasted by households. That’s 4.7 million tonnes of food being thrown away every year that could have been eaten.
Wasting food not only wastes money, but also all the energy used in the production, processing, packaging and transporting of food, which impacts on the environment and climate change.
From 31 March 2026 every Council in England will have to collect food waste each week from households. This is a new legal requirement introduced by the Government under 'Simpler Recycling'.
When will the food waste collections start?
In Rossendale weekly food waste collections will start from week commencing 6th April 2026. Please do not present your caddies until then.
What will I receive?
From February 2026 Each household will receive:
- 5-litre kitchen caddy (a small unit which can be neatly stored on a kitchen counter or inside a cupboard)
- 23-litre kerbside caddy (small unit with a lockable lid for outside use)
- A roll of caddy liners
- An information leaflet with everything you need to know about food waste recycling
Residents living in communal properties will receive:
- 5-litre kitchen caddy (as above)
- A shared 140-litre or 240-litre external bin in the communal bin store or indivdual 23-litre kerbside caddy.
- A roll of caddy liners
- An information leaflet with everything you need to know about food waste recycling
If you have not recviced your Caddies after 11th March please email refuse@rossendalebc.gov.uk or phone 01706 217777
Storing your caddy
You will need to store your food waste caddies until collections start in April 2026.
If you put your caddy out for collection before week commencing 6th April 2026 we cannot collect it.
How to use your bins and recycle food waste.
We will begin to collect food waste every week from Tuesday 31 March 2026.
Please do not put any food waste into your new recycling bin until a week before collections start. Until then, any food waste should go in your green bin.
Line your kitchen caddy with the liner, this helps to keep it clean, then place in any food waste.
When the liner is almost full, tie it closed and place into your outside 23-litre kerbside caddy. To keep your kitchen caddy clean you can wash it out or put it in the dishwasher.
Put your food waste bin out, alongside your other bins, by 6.45am on your normal collection day at the location that you present your paper/cardboard sack/bin (this is normally on the pavement at the front of your property). Make sure the lid is locked to keep it secure. Your food recycling bin will be emptied every week.
What food waste can go in the kitchen caddy?
- Meal leftovers
- Plate scrapings
- Tea bags (including the bag) and coffee grounds
- Meat - raw and cooked, bones
- Eggs including eggshells
- Dairy products like cheese and yogurts
- Bread, cakes and other baked goods
- Pasta and rice
- Beans and pulses
- Fish/shellfish - raw and cooked, including bones and shells
- Fruit - raw and cooked
- Vegetable peelings
- Salad and vegetables - raw and cooked
- Lard and other hard fats
- Pet food (hard and soft)
What should NOT go in the caddy?
- Packaging of any kind
- Liquids
- Plastic bags or plastic film
- Household waste
- Garden waste
- Anything that is not food waste
Storing your liners
Store your liners in a cool, dry place away from sunlight and children.