Lining your caddy
You can use a kitchen caddy to collect and transfer food scraps from your kitchen to your food and garden waste (green-lid) bin.
Lining your caddy can reduce smells and keep your caddy cleaner.
However only certified compostable liners are accepted in your food and garden waste bin.
You can buy certified compostable liners at supermarkets, hardware stores and online. They need to be 8 litres or larger to fit Council-provided caddies.
Check your liners are compostable
When buying liners for your caddy, always check the packaging features both of these two things:
1. Must be labelled 'compostable'
2. Must have exact seedling logo (below).
Where to buy compostable liners
Look for these brands at your local supermarket or hardware store:
- Compost-a-pak Compost bin liners
- 'Glad to be Green' compostable kitchen caddy liners
- My Eco Bag Compostable Kitchen caddy Bags
- Multix Greener compostable bags
Some brands may not be available at all stores. Other brands may also be sold.
Before buying, check the packaging is labelled 'compostable' and the certified seedling logo is featured.
Buy certified compostable liners online via select retailers:
If buying liners from other retailers, only buy liners labelled 'compostable' and that feature the certified seedling logo.
Other materials to line your caddy
You can also line your caddy using:
- Paper towel, serviettes or paper napkins
- Old newspaper
- Dry garden leaves.
Unaccepted materials
The following items are not accepted in your food and garden waste bin and should not be used to line your caddy:
- Liners labelled 'biodegradable', 'plant-based', 'degradable, 'eco' or 'green' that don't satisfy the two-step checklist above
- Plastic bags
- Supermarket grocery bags
- Home compostable liners without the seedling logo above.
Handy tips when using liners
Compostable liners are made from material that is designed to break down easier than plastic. This is a good thing, however it means the liners need to be handled a little different to plastic bags:
- Use compostable liners within 12 months of purchase.
- Keep the liners in a cool dark space.
- If the liners become wet, it can make them break down quicker. When using them to recycle food, replace the liners every 2-3 days. You could also place paper towel inside the liner first to soak up any moisture.
- If the liners don’t have handles, only fill them to 80% capacity so you can tie a knot in the top. The liners also won’t get as heavy and will be less likely to break.
Lining your green bin
Only Australian-certified compostable liners can be used in your green bin. It is not recommended to use large compostable liners to line the green bin as these would break easily with the weight of food and garden clippings. Using compostable liners for the caddy will contain food and prevent it from leaking into the green bin.
Request a kitchen caddy
If you don’t have a kitchen caddy to collect your food scraps in, you can request one on our web page.