Garden and Food Waste

Up to 30% of household waste is organic and can be composted. Garden waste can be taken to your local Household Waste and Recycling Centre where it will be composted for you, however home composting is the most environmentally friendly way of dealing with your organic waste and the only form of recycling you can do completely at home. Find out more about what you can compost and how to reduce food waste by selecting the links below.

• Home Composting
• Love Food Hate Waste
• Kitchen and Garden Waste Collections
• Household Waste Recycling Centres

Organic waste such as garden and food waste is one of the biggest problems in landfill. This is because air cannot get to waste in landfill so as organic waste breaks down it creates a harmful greenhouse gas, methane, which damages the earth’s atmosphere. However when the same waste breaks down in compost, because air can get to it, hardly any methane is produced.

European and national laws are in place to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste that goes to landfill in order to protect our environment. This is one reason why we do not collect garden waste with refuse, but encourage residents to reduce their food waste and compost their garden waste instead.

There are alternative methods of dealing with organic waste at home where home composting is not suitable.

Wormeries are great for people who have a small or courtyard gardens not large enough for traditional home composting. They can compost dead flowers, fruit and vegetable peelings relatively quickly producing enough compost for pot plants and window boxes. Wriggly Wrigglers has a large selection of composting equipment including wormeries.


Food waste digesters like the Green Cone can digest all food waste including cooked and raw meat, fish and bones, dairy, rice and pasta. They offer an environmentally friendly way of dealing with all the food waste that cannot go into your regular compost bin.


Making Leaf Mould is a great way to get rid of fallen leaves and make wonderful free mulch for your garden at the same time. Recycle Now provides an easy step by step guide to making the perfect leaf mould.