Kitchen caddies

scrapping food scraps into a kitchen caddy

Use a kitchen caddy system to easily divert food scraps and other compostable items from landfill and save space in your weekly blue bin.

Read the Food scraps in the green bin brochure(PDF, 1MB) for tips on using your kitchen caddy.

New residents to the City of Unley can pick up their free starter kit (caddy and roll of 150 liners) from any Council facility. Please present ID.  

How to use your kitchen caddy

A kitchen caddy can take all kinds of food scraps, including bread, meat and bones, egg and oyster shells, cheese, yoghurt, seafood, tissues and paper towels, even hair.  Once full, the compostable bag and contents can be placed directly into your green organics bin.

Compostable bags

While funding is available from Green Industries SA, residents can access FREE rolls of 150 compostable liners (a year's supply).

New residents to the City of Unley can access a FREE starter kit (caddy and roll of 150 liners) from any Council facility.

To pick up your FREE compostable liners or FREE starter kit, please present your ID (eg Council rates notice) at any Council facility during normal operating hours.

The long-term benefits

By using a kitchen caddy system to divert food scraps and other compostable items from landfill, you are helping the environment and reducing expenses. You will:

  • Save space in your weekly blue bin.
  • Help reduce the cost of waste management for Council and ratepayers.  The cost of composting organic matter is three times cheaper than sending to landfill.
  • Help create valuable compost, and nutrient rich soils for better soil quality and water retention
  • Help the environment by reducing generation of methane gas emissions caused by food scraps decaying in landfill
  • Help support employment by delivering more raw materials to businesses which process organic matter.

Answering your kitchen caddy questions 

What can go in the kitchen caddy?

Anything that grows can go in your caddy. For example, feed your kitchen caddy fruit and vegetable peelings, cheese, bread, egg shells or coffee grounds. Your starter kit will come with a list showing what can go into your kitchen caddy; you may be surprised.

list of organic items that can go in the green bin

Are the caddies made of recycled product?

Kitchen caddies supplied by Council are made from 100% recycled content and made right here in South Australia.

Why use a ventilated caddy?

Ventilated caddies reduce unpleasant odour and allow food scraps to dry through evaporation, reducing weight and subsequent organics processing costs. Ventilated caddies reduce moisture build up and are clean and easy to use.

What liners can I use?

Compostable liners are the ONLY liners you should use to capture food waste.  Do not use degradable or biodegradable bags; they are still plastic and do not break down into organic materials.

Store your liners in a cool dry place.

What do I do when I run out of liners?

While funding is available from Green Industries SA, residents can access FREE rolls of 150 compostable liners (a year's supply).

To pick up your FREE compostable liners, please present your ID (eg Council rates notice) at any Council facility during normal operating hours.

As part of the State’s policy toward banning single-use plastic products, our major supermarkets supply compostable food produce bags. We encourage you to access and reuse these bags for lining your caddy.

Alternatively, some people choose to line their caddy with newspaper or paper towel. When full, scrunch up and place both the scraps and paper inside your green bin.

What about possible smells?

Compostable liners will help reduce smells coming from your green bin. Tying off your compostable liner before dropping into your green organics bin, and mixing with vegetation, lawn clippings or shredded paper, will reduce the likelihood of odours and flies.

Can I use the caddy if I live in a unit complex?

Most unit complexes share their green organics bins. Please ensure someone at your complex takes responsibility to take the bin out for fortnightly collection.

What happens to my food scraps?

Organic material is collected from your green bin and delivered to a composting facility in Adelaide. This is where it is commercially processed and made into nutrient rich organic soils, compost and mulch. These products are used around our homes, our farms, vineyards and greenhouses.

Back to top