What to put in your green top food and garden waste bin (2024)

FAQs

What should you not put in your food waste bin? ›

Vegetables and vegtable peelings should be disposed of in your local council's green waste bin or kerbside residual bin.

Overall, to help prevent greenhouse gas emissions from tea bags rotting in landfill, then the best thing to do is place tea bags in your food or garden waste collection, if you have one in your area.

You can put in:

bread, pasta, cereal and rice. cooked and uncooked food. dairy products and egg shells. fruit and vegetable peelings or waste.

Answer: You can add moldy food (vegetables and fruits only) to a backyard composting bin anytime. Mold cells are just one of the many different types of microorganisms that take care of decomposition and are fine in a backyard bin.

Weeds are accepted in your brown bin but invasive non-native plants such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed are not permitted by law. Find out how to control and dispose of invasive non-native plants.

Definitely! Banana peels can be easily used as fertilizer. Banana peels provide calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphates, potassium and sodium, both to the composting pile and the soil, like nutrients.

Can you put potatoes in the garden waste bin? ›

Can food waste such as potato peelings go into the green bins? A. No, the green bins are only for garden waste such as leaves, twigs, grass cuttings and dead flowers. The composting facility where the contents of the green bins will be taken can only process garden waste.

In Ireland, as per 2nd Schedule category 1 waste of The Waste Management Act, 1996, aerosols fall into the category of hazardous waste and therefore cannot be placed in the household recycle bin.

Cover over food waste with garden waste. Spray citronella oil on top of the bin contents. Use tags such as “Binkill” to deter flies and maggots for up to three months. Consider boiling water to get rid of maggots if your bins do become infested.

If you find that bad odours linger after cleaning your bin, dry it, and sprinkle baking soda inside. Add a few drops of essential oil, and leave it to get some air for an hour or so. The baking soda will absorb smells, and the essential oil will create a wonderful odour to replace the stench of old food.

Baking soda is a great tool to help neutralize odours in homes. It works the same way for rubbish bins. Pour a small amount in the bottom of the bin and let the baking soda do all the work for you! It will help neutralize odours so you don't have to.

The paper towels, used or unused, can't be recycled and should go in your rubbish bin. If you have a food waste bin, some councils let you put a small amount of kitchen towel in with your food waste, but you should always double check as local collections do vary.

Put them in the organic recycling.

The answer to that question is yes, and it is quite easy to do so! All you need to do is put the flower petals into a green garden waste bin as you would your vegetable peels or left-over food.

If you have a food waste collection scheme in your area, tea bags and coffee grounds can be put into your food waste caddy.

Like other cooked food, it is bound to go bad, and composting such chocolate can do more harm than good. Proponents of composting chocolate and other food wastes argue that all types of chocolate, including chocolate bars, baking chocolate and chocolate chips, among others, should be thrown into the green bin.

You can recycle all your food waste, including cooked food, bones, meat, fish, dairy and egg shells as well as fruit and vegetable peelings.

Can you put chicken bones in food waste bin? ›

You can put most raw and cooked food in your bin, including: meat and fish, including bones. fruit and vegetables. dairy products, including cheese, eggs and egg shells.

It is now perfectly fine to use any general litter bin to dispose of your dog's poo, but if you can't find one, do take it home with you. At home it should be placed in the general domestic waste bin, not the food or garden bin.

Bubblewrap can't be recycled at home but you can recycle it with plastic bags at supermarket collection points.

Yes, vinegar can go in the compost. Vinegar is made from a variety of diluted alcohol products, the most common being wine, beer, and rice.

Fruit and Vegetable Scraps

Some fruits and vegetables that you should compost with caution are those with high acidities, such as citrus fruits, pickles, and tomatoes. The acid content of these foods can kill the good bacteria in your compost pile and slow down its decomposition.

Composting Apples

Under normal circ*mstance apples can be added to the composting as and when they are no longer suitable for eating and this includes the occasional windfall during the summer months. Chopping the apples will of course speed the composting process.

Wrap your kitty litter in newspaper or put it in a compostable or paper bag before placing it in your Green Bin.

If you can get over the initial “ick” factor, composting your dog's poop is absolutely worth considering. Not only is it environmentally friendly, but it is a simple, natural, and inexpensive option for use as a nutrient-rich and surprisingly odor-free fertilizer that plants love.

Weeds can be annual, biennial or perennial. The latter being the most problematic from dandelion, buttercup, nettles, docks and thistles to invasive types such as couch grass, bindweed/convolvulus, horsetail and ground elder.

Can chicken poop go in compost? ›

Although chicken manure is too strong to be used raw on your flowers or vegetables, it can be composted and converted to “black gold.” If used without composting, it could damage roots and possibly kill your plants.

Yes indeed! You can put orange peels into your compost mix. Citrus peels, which are high in nitrogen, can be used to increase the activity of microorganisms by being added to your compost. You can add lemon peels, grapes, lime peels, and other citrus peels to your compost pile as a nutrient.

You won't get ordinary household flies if you don't put any meat or bones into your compost. The tiny flies are most likely to be Vinegar flies (Drosophila melanogaster). They are attracted to fermenting or rotting fruit and are common in compost.

Types of waste that can't go in the brown bin

Garden furniture. Treated wood.

Food waste

Place all food without packaging in the nearest food compost bin, excluding egg shells and chewing gum.

Can tissues be recycled? Although tissues are made of paper they are made of very short fibres which are not high enough quality to be recycled and therefore should be placed in the waste bin.

Can I put Aluminium foil and trays in the recycling bin? Yes, if it is clean and drip-dry.

The below items can NOT be placed into the recycling bin:

Garden Cuttings / Soil. Polystyrene (EPS)

All the obvious stuff can go in the green bin: newspapers, books, magazines, cardboard, cereal boxes, plastic bottles, plastic containers, tin cans and aluminium cans are fine.

Flies are attracted to food and other rubbish; they lay their eggs on the rubbish; later the eggs hatch into maggots. You will only have a problem with maggots if flies can get to your waste. If flies settle on your rubbish they may lay eggs which can hatch out as maggots within 24 hours.

Why put salt in wheelie bin? ›

She explains: "Here's a great hack for stopping flies in your bins. "Sprinkle a generous amount of table salt in the bottom of clean bins. "The salt soaks up any leaked fluid and flies and maggots die when they feed on it."

Salt can also be an effective maggot killer. Sprinkle a layer of salt (normal table salt will do) over the maggots, and once it has worked, remove them from your bin, seal them in a bag and dispose of them.

Lastly, deodorize your outdoor trash cans the same way as your kitchen trash cans: to absorb odors, sprinkle some baking soda or cat litter in the bottom of the can, and lay some old newspapers down to absorb mold-causing moisture.

Use a multi-purpose disinfectant spray on the inside of the bin and, then scrub it with a brush if it's really dirty. Rinse and leave to dry. GHI Tip: Ideally, allow the bin to dry in the sun as the heat gets rid of mould. Then replace the bin liner.

Fly larvae, commonly known as maggots, are often found in food waste and other rubbish because it provides a food source for the maggots to develop. If bins are kept closed, flies should not be able to enter to lay their eggs.

You should not recycle packaging that contains dangerous products — or in other words, products that are ignitable, corrosive, or toxic. Examples include oil paint, motor oil, fuel, poisons, or medical waste. If these items are empty, and all you have left is the packaging, then throw the packaging in the trash.

Wrap food in newspaper or paper bags and freeze meat scraps until collection day in order to prevent maggots. Should you have maggots in your Green Cart, eradicate them by sprinkling salt, white vinegar, garden lime or diatomaceous earth on top of them.

Banish maggots with white vinegar for 29p

Not only will white vinegar make your kitchen bin shine it will also prevent maggots. Mix a solution of equal parts water and white vinegar in a spray bottle, spray the bin, and use a dish sponge to scrub the inside and outside of the bin.

The paper towels, used or unused, can't be recycled and should go in your rubbish bin. If you have a food waste bin, some councils let you put a small amount of kitchen towel in with your food waste, but you should always double check as local collections do vary.

Do egg shells go in food waste? ›

You can recycle all your food waste, including cooked food, bones, meat, fish, dairy and egg shells as well as fruit and vegetable peelings.

Items to put in your black bin

Use the black bin for non recyclable items like: disposable nappies. tissues, kitchen roll and wipes. menstrual and incontinence pads, bag these.

Don't panic, although not desirable, maggots should not cause you any harm. Put your bin out for collection as normal on your next bin day. After it's been emptied, clean it out with hot water and disinfectant or white vinegar, an effective, environmentally friendly alternative.

Aside from the take back scheme below, duvets and pillows are generally not recyclable and should be disposed of in the waste bin or at a Recycling Centre. However, some animal charities may be able to use these items for bedding - check locally.

Non-recyclable materials can cause the equipment to jam up or break down. Items such as plastic bags, hoses, wire hangers and string lights can work their way into the belts and joints of the machinery. Even things like small pieces of broken glass can cause danger as our employees have to hand-pick them.

While 50 percent of each Pringles can is made from recycled material, these cardboard and metal cans are, unfortunately, non-recyclable. And since they're a favorite snack item for billions of people, that means they are a large contributor to landfill waste.