Household Food Waste and Bio -Waste

The Household Food Waste and Bio -Waste regulations are designed to promote the segregation and recovery of household food waste.  They will increase the amount of food waste that is recovered through the production of energy, compost and digestate. In particular, the regulations will facilitate the achievement of the targets set out in Directive 99/31/EC on the landfill of waste for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill sites, by directing source-segregated household food waste to composting and to other forms of treatment.

The Household Food Waste Regulations impose obligations on:

• Waste collectors – who must provide a separate collection service for household food waste.
• Households that produce food waste – who must segregate such waste and keep it separate from other non-biodegradable waste, and have it separately collected by an authorised waste collector.

Householders may alternatively:

• Compost the food  waste at home, or
• Bring the food waste to authorised treatment centres, for recovery in an environmentally acceptable way, such as civic amenity sites, anaerobic digestion sites or for incineration.

Households are not allowed to:

• macerate waste and dispose of it in a drain or sewer, or
• dispose of food waste in the residual waste collection( the black bin)

Learn More

European Union (Household Food Waste And Bio-Waste) Regulations 2013, S.I. No. 71 of 2013

Waste management regulations