New food bins

where do you live that you don’t have these? we’ve had them for 11 years. I have a kitchen bin with a food caddy section so that’s tidy and then we use the outside bin from the council. We don’t use the council caddy as the bin we bought is nicer.

They’re used for different things.
Food waste is used to create Biofuel and also some fertiliser for farming via anaerobic digestion.
Garden waste is used for compost.
Food waste mixed in with the garden waste means it can’t be used for the composting process due to contamination issues (not an issue for farming fertiliser as it goes through the anaerobic process to create it).

But they weren't collecting it once a week.

It was once every 2 weeks. The new government manadate I think is weekly food waste collection.

There is probably an issue that some councils charge for garden waste bins. Which means some people won't pay for then, and then stick the food waste in the general waste.

In my area the garden waste bins are not charged for, so everyone has them.

Because the collection methods operate differently in different areas and the new rules are a nationwide imposition separate to that this is why some people probably think they are a bit of a waste of time and money and others might think they are great or an enhancement of current collection.

Here is rural Norfolk we don't have them yet and no word on it. I can't even think where I'd have worktop space in my tiny kitchen for a bin. Or space in my side alley for another bin.

No issue here, had it a long while. Love that there is less for the general waste bin which now only gets collected every three weeks. I buy the compostable bags off Amazon for the indoor food caddy, our council does not provide them, quite surprised that some do!
We try to minimize general waste.

Really? But not maggots in your normal bin?

Our non recyclable rubbish is only collected fortnightly, whereas food waste is weekly, which is great.

We got ours a couple of months ago and I really like it. We got a little kitchen caddy and and a bigger outside caddy that has a handle lock (I can't figure it out but DH seems confident!). Kitchen caddy sits on the kitchen work top (took up the space recent vacated by the perfect prep machine) and we take the bag out every day or every other day depending on what's in there.

Much nicer than a 2 weekly black bin which got a bit gross towards the end of the fortnight.

We don’t have these in our area, I think it’s like anything it just takes time to get used to it.

@GasPanic I don’t think I’ve come across food waste being required to go in the garden waste bin? Did that include things like meat, bones, etc? If so, I wonder why your council didn’t just stick with that as that surely would have met the new requirements. They were already collecting your food waste!

I'm sure we've had them for 20 years. Not an issue at all.
Make sure the bags are properly sealed and don't overfill them - no issues with maggots or smells at all.
Hardly anything in my general waste bin these days. This could be down to me actively buying less, with less packaging, but once you have your systems in place it isn't exactly taxing.

Had them for 15 years in my old place, moved and they’ve just been introduced here.

The fuss is ridiculous, the anger and angst even more.

Like your term OP “sick to death”, really?

Never seen maggots in ours - we bag up the food waste in those flimsy food waste sacks (always get a slightly larger size so they aren’t pulled too tight). Need to clean the food waste bins out every couple of weeks but it’s way easier to give them a quick rinse than the main large kitchen bin.

I’ve done this for 15-20 years, it’s totally normal and means the main bin smells much nicer. Not sure what the fuss is.

We’ve had them for over a decade. They’re absolutely brilliant- the main bin never smells at all now. No more bin juice. All the food that makes the bin a bit nasty is all contained in the food waste caddy then the food waste bin outside. We bag up the little caddy’s worth every few days when it’s full and pop it in the larger food waste bin outside. I keep ours under the sink in a cupboard cos we’re short on surface space - I bring it out to the surface whenever we’re peeling things etc.

Did you not use the special bags?

They are new in many areas and operate in parallel with the existing bins.

Many people have received extra caddies because I think there is now a mandatory weekly food waste collection, and you are not supposed to put your food waste in with the garden waste.

The motivation behind this is probably not to leave food waste around any longer and reduce the amount of food waste people put into the landfill bin.

Fro me it looks largely a waste of time. For food waste I used to put in with the garden waste, never in the landfill. It is a bi weekly collection, so if I had something I do not want to rot for 2 weeks in the bin I would either bag it up in compostable bags or bag it up in compostable bags, seal it and freeze it until it can be thrown away.

The new caddies I don't get because they will cost more to collect, are far bigger than people need (we have 2x, one is massive - I always though the idea was to actually eat the food not throw it away but ho hum).

They would have been better off changing the cardboard collection (e have no specific caddy here so when the wind blows the cardboard goes all over the place) or separating out the existing plastic metal.

Unfortunately it is government mandated I think, so the local councils have no real choice on it.

Had them for years, no problems at all once I'd worked out how to stop the foxes getting into them.

I have 2, 1 for kitchen and 1 for transferring it to outside for rubbish collection. Isn’t that what everyone has?

Maggots from my experience are if you leave the food in it too long.

Food caddies here for years too. I place a big rock on top of it so the foxes can’t get to it.

It's not a problem, whatsoever.

Had food bin for years. Dont remember time without one. I brought myself an enclosed one and use green bags. Simply empty it every one or two days into brown bin

Yes, no issues with it at all. No change in the kitchen and one small bin out the front next to the current wheelie bins that we’ve had for years is no problem. We have always had a compost caddy in the kitchen, now it’s an all food waste caddy, which is great.

If you are one of the people that get maggots in it, can I ask whether you would also have got maggots putting the same waste in the larger general waste bin?

I don't think anyone will make you use them if you would rather put the same waste in your general waste bin @Toomanyuglyplasticbins

Yep, we do this. The compost caddy lives just outside the kitchen door in the garden room and peelings etc go straight in there.

Relatives in another part of the country had a green kitchen waste scheme years ago and the council were crap at collection and eventually announced they’d abolished it. Everyone was directed to throw their food waste in the black bin (!). Now they’re having to reintroduce it and bragging about how marvellous it’s all going to be. But they still haven’t actually rolled it out yet…

Absolutely not.