Brown bins now taking all food waste

This will include all plate scrapings such as cooked meat, scraps and bones, fish leftovers, gravy, sauces, cheese, eggs, teabags and coffee grounds. All fruit peelings and vegetable waste, cold ashes and garden waste can still be put in your brown bin.

To help keep your bin clean it is advised that plate scrapings or messy food stuffs can be wrapped in a single sheet of newspaper before being disposed of in the brown bin.

Chair of Environmental Services Johnny McGibbon said: “We hope that households with a brown bin will find it easy to now to dispose of all of their food stuffs."

Around 30 per cent of household waste is made up of biodegradable material, much of this being food waste, so it is fantastic news that this can now be recycled through the brown bin and help us to reach the targets we need to meet. This will ensure that Council doesn’t incur any penalty charges that would affect our ratepayers.”

The current recycling target set down by government is 40 per cent by the end of this year and Craigavon is well on the way to reaching this target with the Council’s recycling rate currently standing at 37 per cent.

By adding all food stuffs to the brown bin, Council will be able to save between 25,000 and 95,000 per year as this waste is diverted from landfill which will have a direct impact on ratepayers.

Fortnightly collections of the brown bins will start again by the end of March/start of April.

For information on your bin day or any other queries please contact 3833 9031.