Your food scraps bin

To avoid items sticking to your bin when it is emptied, we recommend lining the bottom of your bin with large vegetable leaves, dead indoor flowers, newspaper, or kitchen paper towels. You can also wrap sticky, wet or smelly items in newspaper to stop them sticking to your bin.

If you’d prefer to keep your food scraps bin outside, you can use a smaller container to collect scraps in in your kitchen, such as an ice cream container, a small pedal bin, or a bowl with a plate over it. Once this is full you can then empty this into your food scraps bin. Some people also place their scraps in the fridge or freezer until the morning of their collection and then place them into the bin, to avoid smells. 

Place the handle of your food scraps bin in the upright position at the kerb to keep it locked in place. This stops items from falling out, as well as reducing smells and pests. 

Each of your bins is picked up by a different truck. To help drivers see your smaller food scraps bin, please place it on the side of bigger wheelie bins that will be seen when the driver is approaching your property and at least 30cm away from wheelie bins. Do not place the food scraps bin on top of, behind or between other bins. Once it’s been emptied, on windy days your bin may be placed on its side at the kerb.  

We recommend keeping any smelly foods such as meat in the fridge or freezer until collection day. You can also wrap your food scraps in newspaper to help keep in any smells. Cleaning your bin regularly with detergent and a brush will also help reduce any smells. 

These are taken to a commercial composting facility where they get turned into compost for gardens, putting nutrients back into the soil. 

There is no agreed New Zealand standard for compostable packaging, and no national requirements for labelling and meeting commercially compostable international standards. This means it’s very hard to tell the difference between plastic non-compostable liners and plant-based plastic liners.

Instead, use newspaper, large vegetable leaves, cut flower stems, or kitchen paper towels to line your bin.  

If you compost at home, keep it up! Composting is a great way to process green waste and compostable items that can’t be included in your food scraps bin, such as tissues, home compostable packaging, hair, cold ash, dust and fallen leaves. 

Note that items placed down a sink disposal unit go to the landfill, so it’s best to compost at home or to use your food scraps bin. 

To learn more about how to set up a compost, worm farm or Bokashi bin, check out our information about composting or take a workshop. We fund free composting workshops each year through Let's Compost, with $40 off your selected composting system.