The new bin collection system is a nightmare. Anyone else?

[ThisIsJustDisgusting]

We had our new bins three weeks ago.

The food bin wasn't collected for a fortnight during the heatwave and so everything in the bins had rotted, decomposed, fermented (weird alcohol smell to it). And, when they wre finally collected last week, the stench that arose and lingered in the street afterwards was phenomenally foul.

I've got a pretty strong stomach but even I struggled washing the food bin out afterwards. I've never smelt anything like it.

I think part of the problem is that the composting bags provided were really thin and tore easily. Part of the problem is that there's nothing else in the bin to soak up any liquid that comes from the rotting food.

Evidently, none of neighbours washed out their bin because, a week on, I can't open the windows because the whole house ends up smelling of it 😭

Has anyone else noticed similar? Is this just how life is now..?

Food bins are surely supposed to be collected weekly. That’s why i use mine as the other bins are fortnightly and we dont want food waste hanging around for more than 7 days

Well our LA has failed to meet the deadline with these new food waste bins due to lack of funds, so we haven't got one. Part of me wonders if they're just waiting to see how it all goes elsewhere before they waste their money.
We used to put food waste in our green bin with our garden waste but now we pay for green bin emptying, we can't put food waste in it as they are not allowed to charge for food waste collection. So our food waste now goes in general waste again.

I have to use two bags, one inside the other, in my kitchen food waste caddy, then they don't split.

And complain to your local councillors about collection not being weekly.

London and our food waste bins get collected weekly. The bin can smell and you don’t want to walk or cycle behind the lorry, but it works well. The caddy bags don’t stop leakage. I check the bin after emptying, don’t breathe in and swill with bleach if needed.

I have bought my own bags as the ones provided split and were generally shit. That is helping.

but I’m not using the inside kitchen one as cleaning it out was becoming an everyday job (it didn’t seal so flies/maggots). The outside one is at least not in the kitchen.

but yes. The collections really really stink

We've had food waste collections for over 20years - they might be new in some places but are completely normal elsewhere.

Buy better bags; double bag is necessary. Use things like bread ends to soak up juices; keep the bin in the shade if possible & definitely need to be collected every week.

I line my food bin outside with a small bin liner and fill it with the tied up food caddy bags..not sure why it's not a thing, I don't see anybody else do it but makes sense to me

The thing is, all the advice on how I can minimise the smell in my own food bin or swap bags is very kind but ultimately irrelevant because i can work that out for myself and have done it. I've stuck my nose right in after cleaning it and there's no smell.

But none of the neighbours have done it. So mine could smell of roses but that doesnt help the smell on the street!

I know collection should happen weekly. We've had scheduled two food bin collections so far but only one happened. So week 1 - bin delivered; week 2 - missed; week 3 collected; week 4 - is tomorrow.

I'll definitely get onto the councillors if any more are missed but that doesn't help the smell thats already here in the air all up and down the street 🤢😭

I wondered if anyone else had had issues with that.

It's really horrible isn't it?

Other than that, its all going well but bloody hell, I was thinking this week that I'll move if it doesnt improve but then anyone else coming to view the house would also be able to smell the street!

So our food waste now goes in general waste again.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

I am (sadly) very excited about getting a food caddy. I’ve never lived anywhere where food has been collected so this will all be new for me.

Apparently we are getting a 7 litre indoor kitchen container and a 23 litre outdoor container but I don’t know why, maybe the small one is to go in the fridge, then the day before bin day I tip it into the big one that gets emptied by the bin men?

Are these normal sizes per household? So when you say the food caddy smells, do you mean the bigger one?

Is the bag you’re talking about for the big or small pot? Do they take the food in the bag? Is the bag compostable?

We have had food waste bins for a long time here. Agree the bags are thin, so I double bag. In hot weather I keep the waste bagged up and in the freezer until the night before it is due to be collected. In mild or cold weather I put the bag into the outside bin at the end of each day.

The bags I was given were for the small indoor caddy.

i didn’t put a bag in the bigger caddy and the other ones split and leaked and genuinely stank like a bin has never stank before so I washed it with boiling water and bleach (abd the plastic is cheap thin crap so the boiling water melted it a bit) and bought bags for it.

all the bags are compostable but they leave the liner in my outside (big) caddy when collecting so zi put that in general waste.

I keep the small one on the kitchen side with the compostable bag in. Then every day or 2 tie the bag up and put it in the outside bin.

I can't smell my neighbour's bins, but if you accidentally get downwind of the bin lorry it is 🤢

I was really excited about it too! 😆

The indoor caddy isn't a problem.

My outdoor bin isn't a problem.

The problem is the foul stench permanently now in the air outside on the street which means the windows have to be kept closed and I'm breathing through my sleeve to try and block out some of the smell when I walk down the road.

The problen isn't my bin.

We’re supposed to be getting these starting next month. I won’t be using them.

We had ours delivered ages ago, but the paperwork said first collection was 18 August, so start collecting on 11 August. Loads of people put them put every week even though there were no collections. Bet they stank!
ETA we had a miniscule amount in the bottom of a bag as we have a compost bin.

That what I do. It works well.

I think thebissue was really the fact the bins weren't collected the first week which meant they leaked foul sludge into the bins.

I cleaned mine. At least a fair few of my neighbours didn't clean theirs. And now the air is polluted with the smell.

Ours is every 2 weeks, one year we had maggots 🤢 and I’ve been so paranoid ever since. The bags the council give us for the bins are shit quality, I get Aldi ones instead, in summer double bag, and it seems pretty secure. Even in the heat this year our food bin was fine. We also get a company round to clean it after emptying

Our food bins (and garden waste) have only ever been collected fortnightly in summer and monthly in winter.

it’s been like that for 20 years

We received ours about 4 months ago but hardly anyone uses them. (I'm hanging fire until we are forced to.☹️)

Thankfully nothing being said at the moment.

We have hardly any food waste anyway but I find the thought of having a bin for it pretty 🤮.

The bags are compostable if you use an ordinary bin liner you would honestly be better not food recycling .

Our council charge for green waste so I don't food recycle!

We haven't got one yet, but they are using them on the other side of town. The main problem I've heard is that foxes can get them open.

At the moment we are still supposed to put our peelings in the green bin along with garden waste. That's emptied fortnightly in the summer/spring/autumn and monthly in the winter. You are not allowed to put biodegradable bags or liners in the green bin. It might be the case that newspaper can still be used for peelings, but people don't have enough newspaper generally for that to happen.

Are you sure the stench is from the bins?

We all have them here, bin day isn't until Friday. Windows open right now. No stench. My own bin doesn't even smell when I walk past it or am near it in the garden. Perhaps there are some zombies festering away somewhere in your neighbourhood 🧟‍♂️ 🧟‍♀️