Food caddy

Your food waste is collected every week. Please make sure you remove all packaging from your food waste, if you have got strawberries that have gone off for instance, take them out of the packaging first before you put them in your kitchen caddy, you can then put the plastic tub in your white/pink bag. To keep your caddy clean, place your food waste into the food bags provided by the council or any plastic bag. To obtain replacement food caddy bags, please tie a food bag to the handle of the kerbside caddy before putting it out for collection and the crew will leave a roll of bags.

You can put the following items in your inside food caddy, in a liner. When full, transfer into your kerbside caddy:

• Food leftovers

• Fruit & vegetables
• Tea bags
• Dairy products
• Fish
• Rice, pasta & beans
• Meat & bones
• Bread cakes & pastries

Please do not put the following items into your inside food caddy; they are not recyclable:

• Packaging
• Oils & liquid fats
• Liquids
• Food still in packages

When you recycle your food waste, your brown household waste bin will be cleaner and less full. There are some avoidable types of food waste that are more likely to end up in your wheelie bin than others, like gone off bags of salad, excess cooked rice or pasta, bread crusts, meat past its use by date. Try to keep a record of what you throw away and you might discover you throw away some foods more than others, so maybe next time you shop buy less of these items. Resist 2 for 1 offers sometimes these have short use by dates, and are not freezable. We know its not always possible to avoid food waste, things like plate scrapings, peelings, tea bags and out of date food (out the packet) can all go in your food caddy, this can prevent it going in your brown bin. If you need a food caddy you can order it here. Reducing the amount of food wasted, and making sure unavoidable food waste gets recycled, can have a huge positive impact on St Helens and the environment. Three things to remember, proper planning, preparation and storage are key to avoidable food waste.

To help reduce your food waste, keep a food diary and use a planner for your weekly shop. Check what you have got in your cupboards already to avoid buying excess. Remember your freezer is your best tool for tackling food waste, or your leftovers, the majority of foods can be frozen right up to their use by date, for use later on. Even things like cheese and bread can be frozen! If your fresh joint of meat is near its use by date, why not cook it, wait for it to cool and freeze it in portions for when you next need it?

You can always chop up any unused vegetables and freeze them for less prep next time you need them! Why not turn your veg and potato leftovers into a mid week roast dinner! It doesn't matter what day it is, a roast is good on any day of the week!

If you struggle with how much you should prep or dish out, why not give this portion calculator a try, its comes in very useful.

Did you know your food waste impacts Climate Change, for a closer look visit Our Planet, your food on the Love Food Hate Waste website.

For tips and recipes to help you waste less food and save money visit Love Food Hate Waste

Have a look at this for an A - Z guide on Food Storage