Food waste in Denmark: what belongs in madaffald?

What is madaffald?

Madaffald is the Danish label for food waste: accepted food scraps and leftovers collected separately from other household rubbish. Both raw and cooked food can belong here. It is not simply a bin for vegetable peelings, and it is not the same as garden waste or a home compost heap.

Start with the instructions for your address. Everyday food scraps are a useful starting point, but bags, liquids and less obvious items need a local check. A product being natural, biodegradable or used in the kitchen does not automatically make it food waste.

This guide explains the common examples, the exceptions worth knowing and how to make the routine manageable at home.

If you’re unsure about a particular item, look it up in the Mit Affald sorting guide or the Affaldsguide Danmark app. Both are available in Danish, English and Arabic.

What normally belongs in food waste?

Municipal and operator guides commonly include:

• Fruit and vegetable scraps, such as peelings and unwanted pieces.
• Bread, rice, pasta and other leftover food.
• Meat and fish scraps, including accepted small bones.
• Eggshells and nutshells.
• Coffee grounds and accepted coffee filters.
• Food that has spoiled and cannot be eaten.

Provas, for example, lists leftovers, spoiled food, peelings, eggshells and carcasses in its food-waste collection. Fors also includes bread, rice, pasta, meat, fish, smaller bones and dairy products.

These examples describe food waste, not its packaging. If you discard an unopened food product, you still need to separate the contents from the wrapper or container rather than dropping the complete package into the bag.

Can cooked food and meat go in?

Yes, household food-waste collection can accept cooked food and animal products. Do not apply the rules for a backyard compost heap to the municipal collection.

Ballerup’s guidance, for example, explicitly includes both cooked and raw food, meat, bones, shellfish and fish. If you have an unusually large bone or another awkward item, look it up rather than assuming that every size is suitable for your collection.

Remove packaging before sorting the food

Think of a packaged food as separate things. Old bread and its plastic bag, yoghurt and its pot, or leftovers in a takeaway tray need different decisions.

Empty the food out as well as you reasonably can. Then sort the packaging according to its material and the local guide. A food carton is not madaffald simply because it held something edible, and a plastic container does not become food waste when it is dirty.

The same applies to foil, film, clips and other non-food parts. Provas explicitly excludes packaging, foil, plastic film and several other kitchen items from its food-waste collection.

If you cannot identify a component, search for the item rather than using the place where you found it as the sorting rule.

Coffee, tea and kitchen roll: look at the whole item

Coffee grounds and paper coffee filters are familiar food-waste examples. Tea leaves and accepted paper filters can also belong here. However, check unusual tea-bag materials and mixed products rather than assuming every product containing tea or coffee has the same construction.

A coffee capsule, for example, includes a casing as well as coffee. Look up the complete item and any separation instructions; it is not equivalent to loose grounds in a paper filter.

Used kitchen roll can also appear on local food-waste lists. Ballerup specifies kitchen roll used with oil or food leftovers, while excluding napkins. Fors similarly accepts used kitchen roll but puts napkins on its exclusion list.

That distinction is easy to miss in translation. Køkkenrulle means kitchen roll or paper towel; servietter means napkins. Do not extend a rule about food-soiled kitchen roll to cleaning cloths, wet wipes or paper used with cleaning chemicals.

Flowers, plants and soil are different cases

A bouquet is not necessarily sorted in the same way as a plant pulled from a pot. Several food-waste guides accept cut flowers, but soil and garden waste are excluded.

Remove wrapping, ribbon, wire and other non-plant decorations before following the local instruction. Do not tip a whole flowerpot, its soil and its plant into the food-waste container because the plant can break down.

Fors distinguishes flowers and plants without soil from potted plants and garden waste. Copenhagen also lists soil and ordinary potted house or garden plants as exclusions from its food-waste collection.

For garden clippings, branches, larger amounts of fallen fruit or other garden material, check the garden-waste arrangement separately. A food-waste bin is not a general-purpose container for everything organic.

Cooking oil and liquids need a local check

Do not pour a bottle of liquid into the food-waste bag without checking the instructions. The product and quantity can affect how it should be handled, and a leaking bag creates another problem.

The local differences are real: Fors lists food and frying oil among accepted items, while Ballerup says cooking oil should go into a closed container for residual waste. Those are different local directions, not interchangeable national rules.

Sauce or food residues on a plate are also not the same practical situation as a large container of liquid. When the guide is unclear, ask the operator how to package and deliver the particular substance and amount.

Avoid using advice for cooking oil as an answer for motor oil, cleaning products or unidentified liquids. Those need their own sorting guidance.

Which bag should you use?

Use the bags accepted by your municipality or operator, and follow its closing instructions. Green colour and the word compostable are not enough to establish suitability.

Copenhagen requires its supplied green biobags. Herning, by contrast, permits alternative bags when residents cannot collect the supplied ones or need another size, but specifies thin material that must not be biodegradable. The correct choice therefore depends on the collection system, not a general preference for one bag material.

To get more bags, check your operator’s current information. Depending on the scheme and housing type, there may be a building supply, an authorised collection point or a request method connected with bin emptying. Ask the caretaker if you share bins with other residents.

An approved collection bag is an exception made for that collection method. It does not mean other packaging made from a similar material can go in too.

Compostable packaging does not automatically belong here

Compostable cups, plates and cutlery may look like obvious companions for food scraps, but their label does not guarantee acceptance in the local treatment process.

Copenhagen’s apartment guidelines explicitly exclude compostable disposable tableware because the food waste is treated through anaerobic digestion. They allow only the biobags supplied for the scheme.

Provas also excludes wooden items such as chopsticks, ice-lolly sticks, barbecue skewers and toothpicks. Being made from a plant does not make a product equivalent to a food scrap.

Check the actual item instead of relying on claims such as natural, plant-based or compostable.

Keep pet waste and hygiene products out

Cat litter, dog-waste bags, animal bedding, cigarette ends and hygiene waste do not belong in madaffald just because some of their contents are organic.

Provas lists cat litter, dog faeces, nappies and hygiene products among its exclusions. Copenhagen excludes animal bedding, and Fors excludes dog-waste bags and cat litter.

Follow the appropriate local route for those products. In particular, a bag sold as biodegradable does not turn its contents into accepted food waste.

Reduce smells and broken bags

Keep a small food-waste container near where you prepare food, so separating scraps is convenient. Leave room to close the bag properly instead of filling it to the top.

Ballerup recommends avoiding overfilled bags, tying a knot and placing bags carefully into the outdoor container so they do not tear. It also advises more frequent bag changes in warm periods, keeping the outdoor lid closed and placing the container in shade where possible.

If bags regularly leak, check their condition, your filling level and the operator’s advice. Double-bagging or adding absorbent paper is not something to assume every scheme permits; follow the local instructions.

For shared containers, ask the building’s waste manager about persistent problems rather than leaving a leaking bag beside the bin.

Is food-waste collection the same as home composting?

No. Borger.dk explains that home composting follows municipal conditions and that animal waste such as meat and bone scraps must not go into the household garden compost container.

That is different from a municipal food-waste service which accepts those foods for controlled treatment. Do not move a whole kitchen bag onto a compost heap just because its contents were accepted in the madaffald bin.

If you want to compost at home or in a shared courtyard, check what the municipality permits and which materials the particular system accepts.

What happens after collection?

Copenhagen describes its food waste being processed into a pulp before it goes to a biogas plant. Bags and incorrect items are separated out; the food pulp is used to produce biogas, and the remaining digestate is used as fertiliser.

This is a local example of the treatment chain, not a guarantee that every bag becomes compost or that every collected item is recycled. Keeping packaging and other unsuitable products out supports the intended process.

Sort unavoidable scraps, but prevent avoidable waste

The Danish food authority distinguishes food that could have been eaten from inedible parts such as peelings, eggshells and bones. Sorting a leftover correctly is useful, but preventing edible food from becoming waste is a separate opportunity.

Plan around what you already have, buy amounts you expect to use and keep track of food approaching its date. On Danish labels, bedst før means best before, while sidste anvendelsesdato means use by. The food authority says use-by dates must not be exceeded; a best-before date is different and does not automatically mean the food must be discarded. Follow storage and opening instructions too.

For help at your address, find municipal information and collection dates. The calendar supports selected municipalities; use the official provider if yours is unavailable. Our Danish bin-label guide can help with unfamiliar words on the containers.