Your brown garden bin and food waste caddy
Changes to food and garden waste collections
We're making changes to the way that we collect food and garden waste. This will enable us to increase the amount of food waste we collect, help us achieve environmental goals and meet Government recycling targets.
View changes to food and garden waste
Brown bin and food waste caddy collections
- Your brown bin is emptied once a fortnight
- We do not collect extra garden waste, we will only take what is inside your brown bin
- You get an indoor caddy to store your food waste, we recommend using compostable corn starch liners for your caddy as this is the easiest way to keep it clean and to empty it. When your caddy is full, simply tie up the bag and pop it into your brown bin
- The lifting arms on our vehicles have a weight limit so if your bin is too heavy we can’t empty it. To avoid this, don’t squash too much waste into your bin and never put any soil or stones in with your garden waste
Your brown bin and food food waste caddy collection day
Collections are made by our in-house collection team Tuesday to Friday, any time between 7:00am and 5:00pm. Always make sure your bins are out in the right place by 7:00am and remember to take the bins back in as soon as you can after collection.
The rubbish bins are collected one week, with the recycling and garden and food waste bins collected the following week and so on.
View bin collection and days and calendar
You will notice that on the bin collection calendars the last two weeks of the year are normally left blank. This is because the collection dates are arranged closer to the time. If your bin day does change, we will normally notify this to you via a bin tag or other method. We work as normal on Good Friday.
Help putting out your bin
Contact us if you are unable to put your bins out due to infirmity or disability and we can help with your collection.
Using your brown bin and food waste caddy
You must put the right things in each bin. If you put the wrong things in any bin or put the wrong bin out for collection we will not empty it
Compostable caddy liners can be bought in all supermarkets, discount stores and online. Alternatively you can come to the Council Depot, Thorpe Lane, Banbury, Ox16 4UT and collect liners, they are priced at £3.50 for a roll of 52. Payment for the liners is by card only. Apologies but we are no longer able to deliver liners.
Order additional bins
Your first set of bins are provided free of charge. You can order brown food and garden waste bins at a cost of £30 each (subject to a maximum of 2 of each bins).
Replacing your bin
All bins are the property of the council. We repair broken bins free of charge (or replace if they can’t be fixed).
Find out about replacing a bin
What to put in your brown garden and food waste bin
- Grass cuttings
- Pet straw
- Untreated sawdust
- Cut flowers
- Branches
- Leaves
- Hedge trimmings
- Weeds
- Leftovers
- Meat
- Bones
- Fish
- Out of date or mouldy food
- Tea bags
- Coffee
- Bread
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Rice
- Pasta
- Beans
- Cake
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Peelings
What not to put in your brown garden and food waste bin
- Soil
- Stones
- Bricks
- Cardboard
- Paper
- Textiles
- Flower pots
- Plastic bags
- Cat or dog waste
- Fats and oils
- Wood
Learn more about what to put in your brown bin
Residents living in flats
We provide a range of waste and recycling services for residents living in flats.
View advice for residents in flats
What happens to your waste?
Your brown bin waste is taken to an in-vessel composting facility in Oxfordshire. We use this facility because your food and garden waste is composted together and cannot be composted at a traditional open composting site.
By using an in-vessel composting facility the temperature can be maintained and kept higher to ensure that the food and garden waste is fully broken down and any harmful weeds and pathogens are destroyed. The compost produced is then sold on to local farmers and businesses.