Plastic bags and your food recycling caddy

Great news about recycling your food waste

From Wednesday 1 June 2016 you will be able to use plastic liners or bags in your food waste caddy.

Residents have told us that compostable liners are expensive and can tear or leak, meaning recycling your food waste can sometimes be a bit smelly or messy. Plastic bags are cheaper and stronger than compostable liners and thanks to new technology at the anaerobic digestion plants where our food waste is turned into energy and fertiliser, these can now be used in food waste caddies.

We believe this change will be of great benefit to the residents of Reigate & Banstead, thank you for your support.

What you can use

• To line your caddy, you could buy plastic bags on a roll such as pedal bin liners or reuse plastic bags you already have, like shopping bags that are coming to the end of their life. 
• Food bags, such as bread, salad or cereal bags can also be used. They are perfect for lining your kitchen caddy and getting smelly food into your outside food waste bin straight away. All you need to do is tie them up and drop them straight in.

Whatever bag you use, remember to check for holes first. You can also still use newspaper or leftover compostable liners in your caddy.

What you can't use

• We can only take plastic bags – no other packaging can be accepted.

No black bin liners please

Please don’t use black bin liners as these could mean the contents are mistaken for rubbish and not recycled.

Remember – whilst you can now use plastic bags to line your food waste caddy you cannot put plastic bags in your mixed recycling. For further information see the food waste questions and answers page.