As previously reported, residents will be provided with a five-litre indoor caddy, a 23-litre outdoor caddy and a roll of caddy liners.
The food waste collection service is being introduced to meet a statutory national requirement.
This is as national legislation requires all authorities to offer all residential properties a weekly food waste recycling collection service, collected separately from other household waste.
Warrington Borough Council is required by law to introduce the household food waste collection service by April 2026.
However, homes across the town have started to receive the new caddies more than five months in advance of collections starting.
The council has now explained why, with a spokesperson commenting: “When we procured the services of the distribution company, it advised that it could deliver around 1,000 caddies every five days.
“Warrington has 97,000 properties, so this roughly works out at 19 weeks, starting on September 29.
“We knew this meant that, if our distribution company worked every week, it would take us to early February 2026.
“We have built in some contingency for inclement weather and annual leave over Christmas and the New Year.
“Had we started later, we would have run the risk that not all residents would have received their caddies in time for the start of the service.
“This would have meant we were not complying with the national legislation.
“We always knew that some residents would have their caddies early, but we had to start somewhere, as Warrington is a big place.
“We are asking residents to store their caddies in a safe place until the service starts in March.”
Collections will take place weekly on the same day of the week as the black bin collection.
Food waste caddy deliveries to homes began at the end of September, and they will be delivered within a two-week period based on your usual black bin collection day.
For Tuesday collections, caddies will be delivered between September 29 and October 17, and Wednesday collections will see deliveries between October 13 and 31.
For residents whose black bins are emptied on Thursdays, caddies will be delivered between October 27 and November 14, while Friday collection residents will see caddies delivered between November 10 and 28.
Residents will receive a five-litre indoor caddy, a roll of caddy liners, and a 23-litre outdoor lockable caddy.
“Please store your caddies until collections begin in March 2026. Caddies put out before March 31, 2026, will not be collected,” the spokesman added.
Cllr John Kerr Brown, the council’s cabinet member for waste and recycling, previously said: “This is a national initiative, with councils across the country gearing up for the launch of their food waste collections.
“Recycling food waste is incredibly important, as it helps us reduce our environmental impact, increase our recycling rates, and produce energy and rich bio-fertiliser.
“It also helps us save money that can be reinvested into other essential council services.”