My new weekly food waste collection starts next week, the kitchen caddies and outdoor suitcase-sized bins were delivered around the village a fortnight ago, with a starter roll of biodegradable bin liners for the caddy.
It makes it more complicated for because since 2003 we’ve had a very simple system of three bins:
- green for all compostable, garden and all food waste, including meat and fish, bones and fat, plus tissues and kitchen roll, unbagged
- blue for all recyclables, plastic food trays and bottles, steel and aluminium cans, cardboard, glass jars and bottles with lids screwed back on whether plastic or metal lids, unbagged
- black bin for non-recyclable and non-compostable waste, can be bagged
I live alone and have very little food waste, mainly peelings, pips and carrot ends, but I make bone broth for the dogs and the bones and fat have always been able to go in the green bin with grass cuttings and weeds absorbing grease and any smell. It’s counter-intuitive to put these, and the occasional chicken or lamb bones, in a plastic bag in a separate bin! I put peelings and eg orange pips, and tissues, in a small bowl and empty it into the green bin at least once a day. I can’t imagine having it in a bag in a caddy in the kitchen for days, nor wasting bags by using one per day for very little content.
Our leaflet says the bags are optional, the caddy can be lined with paper or left unlined and just washed more often. It’s not compulsory to use it, if unwanted the unused caddies can be returned to a council collection point. Food waste CAN go into the green bin eg if a collection was missed, but not in bags. Any clear plastic bags can be used, eg supermarket packaging that my bag of spinach came in.
Yes, there are people that chuck out eye watering amounts of food, but I am amazed if the cost of this roll-out is worthwhile.