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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think flushing food down the toilet is disguisting?

174 replies

AppleCrumbled88 · 13/12/2017 19:50

I was staying with my in laws last week. They had cooked a big pot of curry and had some leftovers in the pot that they wished to dispose of. So FIL marched upstairs with his large pot in hand, straight in to the toilet, scooped the contents down the toilet and flushed.

I genuinely found it repulsive. AIBU?

OP posts:
Incrediblehulky · 13/12/2017 23:01

It would never have occurred to me to flush food down the toilet! But I wouldn't be repulsed by it or bothered by it at all really...

Aridane · 13/12/2017 23:05

Even Dennis Nielsen would be disgusted at flushing curry down the toilet.

Oh Hilda - that has to be one of my favourite posts Grin

Bluntness100 · 13/12/2017 23:10

I’m not kidding I feel a little queasy at the thought. It’s the thought of food in the loo, the splash back. I simply can’t imagine why anyone would think this is ok.

Strain the fluids out then bin the solids. Don’t take your crockery and pots into the loo and flush it.

Ffs 🤮

sadie9 · 13/12/2017 23:15

Why would you not put it in the brown bin. Is it sheer laziness so you don't have to separate the food waste out? Does this not put a further strain on the water treatment plants...
I can't believe people do this. It wouldn't occur to me in a million years. And yeah, like really useful to the rat population too.

Bluntness100 · 13/12/2017 23:16

Not everyone has brown food bins, but it’s still no excuse for doing something so rank.

LoniceraJaponica · 13/12/2017 23:25

Loving the assumption that some posters think that all councils provide food waste bins Hmm

Our brown bin is for glass bottles/jars and tins only.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 13/12/2017 23:27

I must admit I don't understand the queasiness really.

Slop the contents of a pan down the loo, flush, all gone.

I can understand the temptation.

It's still a really shit thing to do Grin

MapMyMum · 13/12/2017 23:28

binit.thameswater.co.uk/#What-really-happens. You really shouldnt flush it

Floellabumbags · 13/12/2017 23:30

Isn't it just cutting out the middle man?

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 13/12/2017 23:31

I suppose it is if you eat shit.

LapdanceShoeshine · 13/12/2017 23:49

Our compost bin used to be for food waste, but only for peelings etc, nothing cooked & no meat at all - & now it's only for garden waste Sad

However we still fill less than 1 20L kitchen bin bag a week, mainly because all our plastic waste goes to the county council recycling centre (it may or may not be properly recycled from there but that's not my problem)

allthegoodusernameshavegone · 13/12/2017 23:49

Left over curry is breakfast surely!

Allwashedup · 13/12/2017 23:50

That's disgusting OP! Shock

Charolais · 13/12/2017 23:55

We eat our left-overs nearly all of the time and if we don’t eat them the dogs or chickens do. We never throw food away and so we don’t even use our sink garbage disposal.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 14/12/2017 00:14

It's really not very realistic to think that everyone can dispose of leftovers via compost/ kitchen waste collection /livestock.

Those lucky enough to be able to do that good for you.
Detailing it is not very helpful for people who just can't.

So, strain it into a sieve/collander, rinse all the liquid away, and put the rest in the rubbish bin.

It really will make a difference.

AstridWhite · 14/12/2017 06:29

I sometimes flush unwanted sloppy food down the loo if there is a lot of it. It's less messy than trying to put it in the bin, where it will leak and ooze. Non recyclable rubbish gets taken fortnightly, so I try to minimise the amount of really messy/sloppy food waste going in there.

Our management company says we are not allowed to leave our rubbish out before collection day and our council does not do that separate food waste/compost container thing. We have wooden bin stores outside all the front doors that are easily accessible to vermin, cats etc. You can't compost stuff with meat in it at home because it attracts rats so it seems like the most logical solution to me. I'm not keeping loads of festering sloppy food in the house for a fortnight, thanks.

Any fat that has solidified will be skimmed off first and put in the bin. The pot goes in the dishwasher where it will be sterilised so I am not concerned about the pot being in close proximity to the loo.

In my old house I had a waste disposal unit and I really miss it.

AstridWhite · 14/12/2017 06:31

That said, it's quite rare as I usually freeze or use up leftovers, but on occasion it does happen.

NeilPetark · 14/12/2017 06:36

Our council doesn’t do food waste so we have a compost bin in the garden.

BarbaraofSevillle · 14/12/2017 06:41

^Loving the assumption that some posters think that all councils provide food waste bins hmm

Our brown bin is for glass bottles/jars and tins only^

Also the assumption that all councils have the same bin colour coding system Grin

Our brown bin is for garden waste only (grass and hedge cuttings, weeds etc but not branches) and waste food is specifically excluded.

We have another bin for paper, card, plastics, aerosols and tetrapacks. Glass we are supposed to take to the neighbourhood recycling point and non recyclable waste in our city is incinerated in an energy regeneration plant (which is in an industrial area near the motorway and miles from any homes) so I don't actually feel that guilty about putting actual waste to be incinerated in the black bin providing that I have correctly separated out as much recyclable and compostable waste as possible. The black bin is about a third full every 2 weeks when it is emptied.

LoniceraJaponica · 14/12/2017 06:41

But you shouldn't put cooked food in the compost bin.

AstridWhite · 14/12/2017 06:52

We don't get given wheelie bins at all. Bags only, one for all recyclable stuff mixed together (except glass) and one for non-recyclable, including food waste. I live on a pristine and carefully managed private development where groundsmen take our bags from the wooden bin stores on the morning of bin day and put them at the roadside. We are expressly told not to put our non-recyclable bags out until collection day as they attract vermin, they smell, they look unsightly if they are overloaded and the bin stores are right by the front doors.

This means keeping food waste in the house for up to a fortnight. Anything really sloppy or smelly is a nightmare so I'm flushing it and you can judge all you like.

It's not my fault that councils don't collect rubbish often enough nowadays.

frenchfancy · 14/12/2017 06:54

Never put cooked food in the compost bin unless you want a rat family to move in.

ConcreteUnderpants · 14/12/2017 07:05

Genuinely never heard of anyone flushing food down the loo.
I just tip it down the sink and then scoop up the bits from the strainer.

BTW, where are all PPs getting these plastic bags from? We don't have any in our house anymore.

ConcreteUnderpants · 14/12/2017 07:07

Never even heard of a council food waste bin and I live in the second largest local authority!Confused

BarbaraofSevillle · 14/12/2017 07:13

Concrete I buy plastic bags to put in the kitchen bin and for putting used cat litter in. Not sure what else we are supposed to do really. We do use bags for life for shopping and reuse them until they get dirty or fall apart and then use them as rubbish bags.

Works out at about 2p each for a bag that is similar to the old carrier bags that used to be free, that we used to use for these purposes.