All households affected: Starter kit for food waste is on its way to you

Starting June 1, 2024, all of us in Aalborg Municipality will be required to separate food waste for recycling, and preparations are already underway.

To get off to a good start, a starter kit will be provided to all households in the municipality.

The starter kit consists of a kitchen bin, 150 green bags for food waste, and an information leaflet. Additionally, a new combined food waste and residual waste sticker will be placed on your container.

The starter kit will be distributed to citizens between April and June.

Strong bags with double knot

The green bags are stronger than the black bags for residual waste you’re familiar with. It’s important that the bags don’t leak—and as a citizen, your knot-tying skills also play an important role in that mission:

“It’s important that you remember the double knot on both food waste and residual waste bags, as too much loose waste can cause operational disruptions at our facilities. Additionally, loose food waste in your container can cause problems with pests like flies and maggots,” collection manager at Nordværk, Kim Andersen, emphasizes.

The color of the bags is also significant, as the new color separation system uses optical sensors to sort the green food waste bags from the black residual waste bags:

“In the future, the green bags with food waste will go in the same container as the black bags for residual waste. Our new color separation system will then sort out the green food waste bags based on their specific green color.

Therefore, you cannot use your own green bags for food waste, as they will not be sorted out,” Kim Andersen says.

Providing kitchen bins makes sense

But why do I need a kitchen bin, you might wonder?

“The kitchen bin is provided because experiences from other municipalities show that if we distribute a kitchen bin, there is a greater tendency to take ownership of the food waste scheme. So the kitchen bin is an investment in the scheme, ensuring that it becomes a success,” Kim Andersen elaborates.

The kitchen bin can, for example, be placed in a large drawer or under the kitchen sink if space allows:

“It’s a handy little bin of 7 liters with a handle, and it has a lid. The green bags you receive are 15 liters, so the bag can easily be folded over the bin,” Kim Andersen describes.

So what is residual waste then?

In addition to the starter kit, you will also receive a new set of black bags over the next two months. But what actually goes in residual waste once you’ve separated food waste?

“Residual waste includes, for example, diapers, pizza boxes, paper and cardboard with food residues on them, greasy and wet paper, some types of chip bags, and cigarette butts.

In short, it’s everything you usually throw away as residual waste minus food waste,” Kim Andersen concludes.

Read more about the new food waste scheme at www.nordvaerk.dk.