We collect your food waste at the same time as your refuse collection. Please leave your food waste bin, with the handle locked in the upright position, next to your refuse bins or bags by 6am on your bin collection day.

• meat and fish: raw or cooked - including bones
  
• fruit and vegetables: raw or cooked
• all dairy: cheese and eggs, including shells
• bread, cakes and pastries
• rice, pasta and beans
• coffee grounds, including paper filters
• paper towels
• animal bedding sawdust
• house plants and cut flowers

• Line your caddy with a compostable liner or newspaper and fill it with food waste. Please do not use plastic bags, even bio-degradable ones do not compost.
  
• When it is full tie the liner (or wrap up the newspaper) and put it in your own food bin or communal food bin. Please empty your caddy regularly.
• Lock your outside bin by keeping the handle in an upright locked position. This will keep it secure from animals and birds. Please do not put loose food into the bin especially if you are using a communal food waste bin.
• Put your food waste bin (with the handle in the upright locked position) out for collection by 6am with your normal rubbish. 

Using a compostable liner will keep your food waste tidy and contained making handling easy for both you and the collection crews. Compostable liners decompose along with your food waste but if you prefer you can use newspaper to line your caddy instead.

You must only use compostable liners which display the seedling logo and reference number EN13432. Even liners labelled as "bio-degradable" do not break down entirely and cannot be composted.

Throughout the first half of 2019 Lewes District Council are offering every household free compostable caddy liners for recycling food waste. Check where you can collect yours at the top of this page. Normally you can buy compostable liners at the following places:

• Most supermarkets
  

• Other local stores may stock liners
  

• GetComposting.com

• From websites such as Amazon

To keep your food caddy clean, regularly empty it into your outside food bin and use a compostable liner. Alternatively you can line your caddy with newspaper.

You can put your food caddy into your dishwasher or give it a rinse after washing up. We empty your outside food bin weekly and it has a lockable lid which stops smells getting out and any animals getting in. Keeping your outside caddy clean will also help prevent smells or mould developing. 

After we collect your food waste we take it to the Woodlands In-Vessel Composting Facility in Whitesmith to be recycled into soil conditioner and fertiliser which is then used by farmers and gardeners in the district.

You can find out more about how your food waste is recycled by visiting Veolia and watching their short film.

Please do not put any of the following materials in your food waste caddy: 

• any packaging
  
• plastic bags, including bio-degradable
  
• liquids, oil or fat
  
• cardboard
  
• medicine
  
• corn starch liners not showing a compostable logo

Use our online form to request a replacement food waste container, in the Lewes district:

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