Reducing and recycling food waste

Facts about food waste

UK households waste 6.5 million tonnes of food each year – 4.5 million of this is still edible!

But all food waste can easily be recycled, rather than thrown away.

Better still, you can take steps to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste in the first place, saving you money and space in your black bin.

An average family of four can save just over £60 per month by reducing their food waste.

If you can’t use any extra food up, put it in your compost (brown) bin or your green food waste caddy.

If you don’t have either of these, you can order them online. What we supply will vary depending on where you live.

How to recycle your food waste

• Remove all packaging first 
• Check if it can be recycled
• If so, rinse and put in the right bin or box. Not sure? You can check here
• Remove any liquids from your food waste
• Put the food waste in one of the free food waste bags supplied with your collection – we only accept these bags because they decompose with your food waste
• Put the bag in your compost (brown) bin or green food waste caddy
• Leave bin or boxes out on your collection day
• Your food waste is then mixed with other biodegradable waste to great peat-free compost – well done!

How to get more food waste bags

Once you know you need more food waste bags, tie the last bag onto the handle of your compost (brown) bin or green food waste caddy.

This lets our crew know that you would like more bags.

If you don’t receive them, email your name and address to waste@belfastcity.gov.uk and we’ll send some out to you in the post.

In the meantime, you can wrap food waste in newspaper and place it directly in your compost (brown) bin or food waste caddy.

You can also pick up food waste bags at any of our four recycling centres across the city.

Reducing your food waste

There are lots of ways to reduce the amount of food wasted at home.

Simple tips, like making a shopping list, planning your meals ahead of time and freezing leftovers, can all help to make a difference.

Visit the Love Food, Hate Waste website for more advice and recipes to try at home to make your food go further.

Free Thrifty Kitchen recipe book

We have put together a free recipe book for residents with ideas for using up leftovers to create delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

All the dishes are easy to prepare, low budget and produce as little waste as possible.

There are also tips for storing food safety, understanding use by and sell by dates and meal planning.

Email wasteeducation@belfastcity.gov.uk to get a copy.