Food waste recycling

food waste recycling in Casey from August 2020

Recycling food waste is simple! From August 2020 you can empty all your food scraps straight into your dark red garden waste bin. Council will collect your garden and food waste to create compost.

How to use Casey’s Food Waste Recycling service

To use the service, you must have a dark red food and garden waste bin. You can order these bins online from Council.
Choose a container or kitchen caddy to collect your household food scraps. Keep this container on the kitchen bench so it is easy to remember to use it.
Put in food scraps and waste. Acceptable items include all fruit and vegetable scraps, meat, bones and seafood, dairy, bread and noodles, leftovers and spoiled food.
Remember, food must be nude! Do not include any packaging with your food waste, including biodegradable bags, as they cannot be processed. View the full list of unacceptable items.
Take your food scraps container outside and empty it into the dark red food and garden waste bin.
The food and garden waste bin is collected as usual every fortnight.

Acceptable and unacceptable items

Contaminated food and garden waste ends up being sent to landfill. To ensure this doesn't happen, just follow the acceptable items list.

Acceptable food waste	Unacceptable food waste
All food leftovers (including meat, bones, coffee grounds, paper towels etc.) Garden organics (including grass and small prunings) Fruits and vegetables (including citrus and hard-to-compost items) Meat and bones (both cooked and raw) Fish and seafood (excluding hard shells such as oyster shells) Eggs and eggshells All bakery items including bread and cakes Rice, pasta, cereal and noodles Loose tea leaves and coffee grounds (excluding tea bags and coffee pods) Soups, sauces, curries and dips Cooking oil (small amounts only. Pour it in, no containers) Fast food leftovers Plate scrapings Spoiled food Used paper, paper towel, napkins, paper bags, newspaper and tissues Weeds and flowers Grass and leaves Garden prunings (including weeds and rose trimmings) Small sticks, toothpicks, skewers and uncoated chopsticks Food-spoiled papers	Plastic or biodegradable bags (these do not break down in the composting process) Food packaging; including aluminium foil, cling wrap, fruit stickers and containers Nappies (including compostable and biodegradable) Medical waste Coffee pods and tea bags Coffee cups (including compostable) Pet poo and kitty litter (including biodegradable litter) Ash and tree stumps Treated and painted timber Concrete, bricks and rocks Glass Metal Dishcloths or textiles Cigarette butts Drier lint and vacuum cleaner dust Biodegradable and compostable bags, cutlery and paper plates

acceptable items for food waste recycling

All food leftovers (including meat, bones, coffee grounds, paper towels etc.)
Garden organics (including grass and small prunings)
Fruits and vegetables (including citrus and hard-to-compost items)
Meat and bones (both cooked and raw)
Fish and seafood (excluding hard shells such as oyster shells)
Eggs and eggshells
All bakery items including bread and cakes
Rice, pasta, cereal and noodles
Loose tea leaves and coffee grounds (excluding tea bags and coffee pods)
Soups, sauces, curries and dips
Cooking oil (small amounts only. Pour it in, no containers)
Fast food leftovers
Plate scrapings
Spoiled food
Used paper, paper towel, napkins, paper bags, newspaper and tissues
Weeds and flowers
Grass and leaves
Garden prunings (including weeds and rose trimmings)
Small sticks, toothpicks, skewers and uncoated chopsticks
Food-spoiled papers

unacceptable items for food waste recycling

Plastic or biodegradable bags (these do not break down in the composting process)
Food packaging; including aluminium foil, cling wrap, fruit stickers and containers
Nappies (including compostable and biodegradable)
Medical waste
Coffee pods and tea bags
Coffee cups (including compostable)
Pet poo and kitty litter (including biodegradable litter)
Ash and tree stumps
Treated and painted timber
Concrete, bricks and rocks
Glass
Metal
Dishcloths or textiles
Cigarette butts
Drier lint and vacuum cleaner dust
Biodegradable and compostable bags, cutlery and paper plates

Plastic bags cannot be recycled, including compostable or biodegradable ones. They do not break down in the composting process. Please only use newspaper or paper towel to wrap up your food scraps. You can also use newspaper to line kitchen bins for food waste.

Pet poo also cannot go into food and garden waste. Australia has strict standards on animal products used for composting. Please dispose of pet poo in your normal rubbish bin.

Download Council's Food Waste Recycling Guide for more details about the service.

Why should I recycle my food waste?

Reducing food waste saves money. The average family in Victoria loses about $2200 a year from wasting food, and almost 250,000 tonnes of food waste is sent to landfill each year. That’s nearly one in five shopping bags per week!

Councils across Victoria are now providing food waste recycling services for their residents. Recycling food waste is good for the environment, returning valuable nutrients to the earth. It also reduces the production of methane and the volume of waste sent to landfill.

Benefits to Casey residents

Currently, the contents of your garden bin are turned into mulch. In August, the food and garden waste will create valuable compost and soil conditioner. Casey will use this product to enrich local parks and gardens.

The compost is also used by Victorian farmers to grow healthy crops and pastures that produce food for everyone. Today’s food and green waste can grow tomorrow’s lunch!

For more information or tips on reducing food waste in your home, visit Love Food Hate Waste or Sustainability Victoria.

Home composting

If you are already composting, please continue! By using your home compost and the council service, you can recycle 100% of your household food waste.

The new service simply allows you to place bones, meat, citrus, onions and other hard-to-compost items in your garden waste bin for commercial composting.

Avoiding bin smells

Suggestions for preventing odours in your garden and food waste bins include:

Keep your garden and food waste bin in the shade.
Layer food waste between lawn clippings or garden prunings.
Don’t overfill your bin or caddy. Keep the lid securely closed.
Line your caddy with newspaper or wrap food waste in used paper towel or newspaper
Keep seafood, bones and meat scraps in the freezer until the night before your collection day.
Store your caddy in the fridge.
Wash your caddy regularly using detergent or eucalyptus oil, or in the dishwasher.
Sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in your caddy and garden and food waste bin to absorb smells. You may also want to wash the container after it is collected.

Your bin days

Your bin days have not changed. The garden and food waste bin will still be collected every fortnight. You can find out when your bins are collected through our handy online tool.

More information

What you can put in your bins