To not see the need for food waste bins?

I like the food waste bin as it means that I only put out my main bin every few months. Everything else is recycled or food waste.

The majority of things that we put in is food waste like stones & peel from fruit. Some of it, though, is wasted food like the leftover not particularly nice beetroot risotto (which itself was only made as we had half a bunch of beetroot left) and which no one was going to eat again or the packet of ham which I found earlier at the back of the fridge which was best before 5th Feb or the carrots which were on the last supermarket order and already had one rotting and the rest tasted a bit off.
If we aim for no waste other than peel, stones and similar then all that happens is that I eat a bizarre combination of the other household member's rejects and I'm not prepared to martyr myself like that.

Ours is 3 weekly and we don't have wheelie bins, just bags. Can you imagine the smell, flies, rats, seagulls etc

We hardly ever throw out actual food, but still use the food bin quite a bit - egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit skins that you wouldn't eat (banana, orange, kiwi), bones, leaves that you get on some veg eg cauliflower, and some plate scrapings if we've not quite eaten what was on the plate (not loads of waste but little bits not quite finished).

Our council uses the food and garden waste to make compost AFAIK and it's the sold.

Ah, another council-bashing thread. Well, there’s a surprise.

You are speaking from a place of privilege and don’t even realise it. Many people don’t have gardens. People with gardens working all hours don’t have time to compost.

You obviously have land and time. Congratulations.

The new bins will probably cost your council less than they are currently paying to put food waste in landfill..

Lots of people don't have gardens. Lots do have gardens, but not the type that need compost (all lawn). Lots have gardens that need compost but no space to store scraps long enough for them to turn into decent compost.

Sure, ideally people would reduce their food waste as much as possible, but most people (yourself included - chicken bones!) will have some and it's far better it gets turned into soil improver than goes to landfill!

Composters attract vermin and unless you’re a gardener, people have no need for the compost. Council food waste bins are a fabulous idea to keep food waste out of landfill. Strange thing to get narked about!

Chicken carcass? Not sure you’d put that on your compost heap. Rind from steak. Hardened fat. Any other meat based but inedible items, that’s generally what goes in my food waste caddy (along with eggshells, veg peelings, teabags that I appreciate are compostable but I don’t have a compost bin) so plenty of items that fill my bin each week that I would not in any way constitute as food “waste”

My food bin contains teabags, peels, egg shells, gone off or manky bits of food, bones. I don't have room to compost.

Yes our food waste and recycling is collected weekly, everything else is fortnightly. The general waste bin is quite small too so it really encourages to recycle as much as you can.

It actually shows you how much single use plastic there is. That's 90% of the general waste for us which is incredible really, both how much it is possible to recycle and a bit depressing that there's this huge amount of non recyclable stuff too.

Surely if your dry bones go into the bin, then that’s straight to landfill?
The food waste is composted. The 70kg of food waste sounds a lot, but it’s only really 3 suitcases filled with fruit skin, meat bones, eggs etc.
And surely that stuff is better in community compost than landfill?

@eirefortriplecrown doesn't your council give you liners for your food caddy so you don't have to wash it out( unless it leaks)?
My council provides a small kitchen caddy and free biodegradable liners, the full liners then go into a larger outside caddy which is collected every week, it works well.

Our general waste is removed every 2 weeks and you wouldn't want old food in a wheelie bin for 2 weeks.

I put a lot of food out tbh. Partly dog food that the dogs have left - one has a lot of digestive issues and leaves his food half eaten and there's only so long you can leave it ( wet food). Also old flowers and some wrapping can go in. But I also have an autistic daughter whose food needs mean I do buy food that sometimes isn't eaten. I'm glad my council has a system fo it.

Veg scraps go in a composter (I have a garden so obviously referring to my situation)

Where do you propose people who don't have gardens with a composter put their vegetable scraps?
It really annoys me when people with houses and gardens seem to have so little imagination/understanding that people who live in flats have completely different needs regarding waste disposal.

Just because other people have to use waste bins doesn't mean they aren't also living on a budget, batch cook, use up leftovers and only put the food on the plate they are going to eat.
I find it quite objectionable actually, the way you have implied that you are so superior because you don't have to use a food waste bin and others do, so those that do use one are somehow being wasteful.

Really? How odd. Everyone puts them out here. It's the only bin that gets collected every week. The others alternate.

Where I live, the food and garden waste go in the same bin and are recycled for biofuels. As PPs state, some food waste collections are composted instead, and the councils have access to industrial composters so they can compost more than you can in a normal garden composter. It's also cheaper to have separate waste collections if all the smelly, rotten, rat-attracting waste is collected separately - this means you don't have to collect the normal rubbish as frequently because there's less of it, and it doesn't smell. And you don't have to pay the higher fees to put it in landfill.

I have a very large garden and make my own compost so every single scrap of fruit and vegetable peelings goes on that. I also meal plan and cook from scratch to avoid other food waste, and often have leftovers for lunch. But we still (family of 3 /4) fill half to one caddy liner every week with other food scraps. I really like the system - the general bins stay cleaner and emptier for a start.

Many councils are already on separated recycling and have been for years.

Our council gave them out years ago. No one used them and they no longer collect them.

We don't throw away much cooked food, but not everyone eats every last scrap of their plate so, yes, I will scrape plates into the food bin. Plus meat/fish bones and trimmings and egg shells. And not everyone has space to compost. I very much like having a separate food waste bin!

Also, in our area at least, the council has a big composting facility where all the brown bin food waste goes. So all those fish skins, chicken carcasses, veg peelings, scraps from plates, the stuff your toddler wanted and then threw on the floor, all of it gets processed. Heat is generated, and the non smelly end product is used as an agricultural compost locally. I think it's great (apart from I hate washing out the bin 🤢)

Everything you put in your composter goes in my food waste bin. Also things like bones and bacon rinds.

My council's had food waste bins for at least ten years, I think they're excellent. People throw away tons of food which instead can be used for energy etc.
Many people don't have a garden or simply don't want to make compost of their own and so they produce quite a lot of waste especially from vegetables.
I have a compost heap so all veg peelings, tea bags, go on there, but examples of the things I put in the food caddy are egg shells( can attract rats to compost bins), fat from bacon or steak, chicken skin, all the bones and debris after boiling up a roast chicken carcass for stock( you admit you put bones in the bin, well now put them in your caddy), bits of uneaten food left on grandchild's plate etc.