What happens to the waste I put in my brown bin?

Recycling your food and garden waste couldn't be easier! Follow the steps below to find out how your food and garden waste is collected and re-processed into agricultural compost.

You can line your caddy with a compostable bag

You can also line your caddy with newspaper

Use your caddy to collect all cooked and uncooked food waste

Once your liner is full, tie a knot in the top, and remove bag

Place the food waste from your caddy into your brown-lidded bin

If you have a Garden Waste Permit, collect garden waste such as leaves, grass and weeds

Place garden waste into your brown-lidded bin

Present your brown-lidded bin for collection on the day of uplift by 7:30am

Your brown-lidded bin is collected by bin crews from 7:30am onwards

Your food and garden waste is collected in your brown-lidded bin at the kerbside

Food and garden waste collected is composted through in-vessel composting

Compost created from your recycled food and garden waste is used on farms across the east of Scotland

A guide to using the Food and Garden Waste Recycling Service is available

For a more in depth look at what happens to your food waste and garden waste sent for recycling, watch our short film taking you on the journey from your home to the composting facility and on to a farmers field.

Please use our waste and recycling collection date finder to find out if your property receives a garden and food waste (brown-lidded bin) collection service.

Free kitchen caddy

When the Food and Garden Waste Service was first rolled out, all households receiving this service were delivered out a small green kitchen caddy. If your kitchen caddy is lost or broken, residents on this service can pick one up a Kitchen caddy for free from several convenient locations.

Last modified on 16 October 2023