How to choose compostable bin liners for food scraps and organic waste

Choosing a compostable bin liner starts with the size of your bin, but it shouldn't end there. For food scraps and organic waste, the liner also needs to withstand moisture and weight, while its compostability certification needs to align with the collection and processing system it will ultimately enter.

This guide explains how to choose the right compostable bin liner for kitchen caddies, foodservice operations and commercial organic waste collections, including what to consider when comparing sizes, materials and certifications.

Do you need a compostable liner for food scraps?

Food scraps don't necessarily need to be collected in a liner. Where your collection system allows it, organic waste can be placed loose into a food scraps or organics bin.

In practice, however, liners can make food-waste separation considerably easier to manage. Food scraps contain moisture, oils and decomposing organic material, which can leave bins requiring frequent washing and contribute to odour between collections. For cafés, restaurants, offices and other workplaces, cleaning larger bins can also require significant water, staff time or contracted bin-cleaning services.

A compostable liner provides a barrier between the organic material and the bin, making it easier to remove food scraps cleanly and maintain the collection system. This matters because convenience is part of successful waste diversion: if separating food waste creates additional cleaning, handling or operational work, it can become harder for businesses and staff to maintain consistently.

Where liners are used, check that they are certified compostable and accepted by your organics collection service provider.

Compostable bin liners for food caddys

For food scraps collected in kitchens, cafés and office environments, start by matching the liner to the capacity and dimensions of your bin. A liner that is too small can stretch and tear under the weight of wet food waste, while an oversized liner uses more material than necessary.

Our 30L and 54L compostable bin liners are suited to smaller food scraps and organics bins, with puncture and tear resistance designed for wet organic waste.

30L compostable bin liners

Hospitality and commercial kitchens

Hospitality venues and commercial kitchens generally produce larger volumes of prep waste, plate scrapings and food scraps and need a liner capable of handling heavier, wetter loads. Our 80L and 140L compostable bin liners are designed for these higher-volume applications.

For large commercial organics bins, the 240L liner provides additional capacity for centralised collection. Here, choosing a liner isn't simply about matching the size of the bin. Consider how much food waste will be collected before the bag is removed, how heavy that waste becomes, and how the liner will be moved and handled.

Businesses using a commercial organics collection should also confirm which liners are accepted by their waste provider and the composting facility receiving the material.

54L, 80L, 140L and 240L compostable bin liners

What does micron mean for bin liners?

Micron (µm) is a measurement of thickness. One micron is one-thousandth of a millimetre. For bin liners, a higher micron generally means a thicker, stronger bag capable of handling heavier, wetter or more demanding contents. The right micron depends on what you are collecting and how the bag will be handled.

Our 30L compostable bin liners are 18 microns, increasing to 25 microns for the 80L, 140L and 240L sizes. For particularly demanding applications, our coffee dump bags are 85 microns thick, designed to hold and transport heavy, wet coffee grounds and pucks without tearing.

When choosing a liner, consider both bin capacity and what is going into it. Light food scraps in a small office bin have very different strength requirements from a commercial kitchen bin or a bag filled with wet coffee grounds.

Coffee grounds and coffee dump bags

Used coffee grounds and pucks present a different challenge to general food scraps. They retain considerable moisture and become heavy quickly, so a standard lightweight bin liner may not provide the strength required for handling and transport.

Our compostable coffee dump bags are designed specifically to fit standard coffee knock tubes and are manufactured at 85 microns thick, providing additional strength for holding humid coffee grounds and pucks in café and hospitality environments.

Compostable coffee dump bags

Check what your collection service accepts

If you are utilising a council-provided kerbside food scraps service — residential, offices and smaller businesses, check your local council's requirements before choosing a compostable bin liner. Accepted liners and certification requirements vary between councils.

For example, Auckland Council accepts certified compostable bin liners in its food scraps collection. Other councils may require food scraps to be placed loose in the bin, or have different requirements for liners. Some suggest lining the caddy with paper.

Hospitality venues and larger commercial operations using a contracted organics collection service should instead check directly with their waste provider to confirm which compostable liners are accepted by the facility receiving their food waste.

Do compostable bags still have microplastics?

Certified compostable bags are designed to biodegrade under the conditions specified by the relevant composting standard, rather than simply fragment into smaller pieces of persistent plastic. Certification standards assess characteristics including disintegration, biodegradation and the quality of the resulting compost.

This is an important distinction when choosing a bin liner. Terms such as biodegradable, degradable or plant-based do not on their own demonstrate that a product is suitable for a composting system.

Look for compostability certification marks and the applicable standard on the product. Our compostable bin liners are independently certified to recognised composting standards, including AS 4736 for industrial composting and AS 5810 for home composting.

Certification also helps you identify the environment the liner has been tested for. A bin liner certified for industrial composting is not automatically suitable for home composting. This matters if your food scraps are going somewhere other than a commercial composting facility; for example, to a home compost system or a community garden. In these cases, look specifically for home compostability certification to ensure the liner has been tested to break down under backyard compost conditions which are characterised by lower temperatures and more variable environments.