Brown bin: organic garden waste
The brown bin
The brown bin is for garden waste - and until 30 March 2026, it also accepts food waste. From 31 March 2026, food waste will be collected separately in new food waste green containers.
Using your brown bin correctly helps turn Derby’s garden and food waste into high quality compost.
If you don’t have a brown bin, you can request one free of charge.
How to recycle: check, chop, chuck
To make the most of your brown bin:
- Check: Make sure you’re only putting in accepted garden waste. Food waste accepted until 30 March 2026. From 31 March 2026, garden waste only.
- Chop: Cut back large branches and bulky garden waste so it fits inside your bin easily.
- Chuck: Put it all in loose - never in bags. Compostable liners can only be used for food waste until 30 March 2026.
What goes in your brown bin
Garden waste includes:
- grass cuttings
- leaves and hedge trimmings
- small branches and twigs
- fruits from windfall
- plants, weeds and cut flowers.
Food waste (accepted until 30 March 2026 only) includes:
- fruit and vegetable peelings
- cooked and uncooked food leftovers
- bread, rice, pasta
- meat, fish, bones and dairy products
- tea bags and coffee grounds.
From 31 March 2026, all food waste must go in the new green food container.
What not to put in your brown bin
Never put these in your brown bin:
- Soil, rubble, stones, or turf.
- Plant pots, garden furniture, or plastics.
- Large logs or timber.
- Nappies or sanitary products.
- Plastic bags or packaging (including biodegradable and compostable plastics after March 2026)
- Liquids, oils or fats.
- Pet waste or bedding unless from vegetarian pets such as rabbits or hamsters.
Top tip: If you put these items in your brown bin, it will be tagged as contaminated and may not be collected. Crews check bins before emptying, and repeated contamination can lead to follow-up visits from a waste minimisation officer.
Why you should recycle garden waste
Recycling organic waste keeps it out of general rubbish bins and landfills, where it would release methane - a potent greenhouse gas. By turning it into compost , we can nurture the soil and reduces reliance on synthetic fertilisers. While there’s no landfill tax for biodegradable waste, composting is still far better for the environment.
What happens after your garden waste is collected
Cleanse
Garden waste is taken to a transfer station in Derby where anything that can’t be composted is manually removed: this includes plastic, clothing, metals and other contaminators. After this cleansing, everything is bulked up and sent in larger lorries to Biowise, an in-vessel composting facility
Compost
Here everything is shredded to a consistent size, given some water and put into a closed vessel (a small, secure container with controllable temperature gauges).
Oxygen is pumped into the vessels, which heats them up to at least 65 degrees. This heat kills off any harmful pathogens (like salmonella or E. coli), weeds and plant diseases.
Good bacteria is left to break down the waste for one to two weeks, with the heat speeding up the composting process. A regular garden compost bin is normally much cooler than this, so the process could take much longer – sometimes over a year.
Maturation
Once the compost has come out the vessel, it sits in piles (called 'windrows') on an aerated floor outside. Here, it continues to oxygenate and mature into healthy and rich compost. It stays here for another five weeks.
Once it has properly matured, the compost is separated into groups by the different sizes of the crumbs.
Onwards and upwards
This process turns your garden and food waste into high quality (PAS 100 specification) compost. It is bagged up and sold predominantly for horticulture and agriculture markets, including the products you buy from your local garden centre.
More help with brown bins
If you're unsure where something should go, try our Recycling Helper - it gives instant answers for hundreds of everyday items.
If you still need advice, contact us.