Sorting your rubbish

Put all your garden and food waste in the green-top bins. We pick up your garden and food waste once a week.

What to put in your green bin

Food waste refers to all cooked and uncooked food, including:

• fruit and vegetables
• meat, fish and bone
• plate scrapings
• rice, pasta and bread
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• used tissues or kitchen towels.

Garden waste includes:

• grass, hedge and shrub cuttings
• leaves and weeds
• plants and flowers
• straw and hay
• tree bark and small branches (less than 50mm or two inches in diameter).

Using your kitchen caddy

To help you collect your food waste in the house, we give each house a kitchen caddy.

We suggest that you:

• line the caddy with newspaper or kitchen towel to soak up moisture - DO NOT use plastic bags
• place all your food waste and plate scrapings into the caddy
• empty your caddy into your green-top bin or cornstarch sack
• rinse your caddy before using again.

The kitchen caddy has a capacity of six litres.

Bin liners and sacks

Please DO NOT put plastic bin liners, sacks or bags in your green bin as they cannot be composted.

You can wrap food waste in newspapers, kitchen towels or paper bags. If you need to line your bin, use compostable paper or constarch bags.

There is no real difference between paper and cornstarch bags. Both are compostable and suitable for use with your food and garden waste.

What NOT to put in your green bin

Here are some examples of what you should not put in your green bin:

• cat litter
• disposable nappies
• food packaging
• household wood and timber (MDF and treated woods)
• pet waste
• plastic bags
• plastic plant pots
• polystyrene packaging
• soil
• tree trunks and large branches (over 50mm or two inches in diameter).

Composting equipment

Royal Borough of Greenwich has partnered with Getcomposting to provide composting equipment to residents at discounted prices. To find out what discounts are available, please visit the Getcomposting website (using the link on the right of this page).