AIBU not to use the food waste bin?

[MRex]

We put veg cuttings in the garden bin (onion skin, end of lettuce, any manky bits), any bits of bread or leftover cooked veg out for the birds. A few grains of rice or whatever left on the plate would just stick inside the food bin. We serve almost everything at the table rather than dishing out in advance so we take what we need and can store leftovers in the fridge or freezer and are good at using them all up eventually (slow cooker meat might end up in a wrap with salad, leftover omelette or pancake slices defrosted for DS snacks while out etc). We get chicken breast and sometimes steak so there's a tiny amount of fat, which most weeks would be the only thing I could think to put in the food bin and I'm not entertaining the foxes for the sake of ~10g of chicken fat that would probably be stuck to the bin or left behind as the binmen assume it's "empty".

I've seen various recycling messages making a big deal out of food waste and I just don't get it because I can't think of what could go in the food bin. It can't be about food at the dump because the smell of food on non-recyclable bits of packaging would still attract rats and whatever. All I can think is that some people have lots of excess food wastage, but then shouldn't they just be more careful about the food dates and how much they cook / how they serve?

Obviously IABU to judge, so enlighten me please, what do you put in your food waste bin? Why are we unreasonable (if we are) by not using ours for those bits of chicken fat?

Could it be that your area (or the area of people whose posts you are reading) are changing the way they collect waste? Ours is changing so food and garden waste will be collected separately.

I have no garden, so cannot compost.

We eat meat with bones - chicken (not the MN one that lasts a week, but it does have bones that need to be disposed of), pork chops, leg of lamb etc... Veg and potato peelings, orange peel, pips and cores, fat soaked into paper towels, scrapings from the plates. Eggshells, teabags (PG tips have no plastic even the glue is cornstarch), coffee grounds, only food waste that does not go in there is chewing gum as it cannot be composted.

A family of 4 with no garden and a varied omnivorous diet will have plenty of food waste to go in the caddy - and if it saves it from landfill and from making the wheelie bin into a stinking cesspit over the summer, then so much the better.

We compost most things, but there are food waste things that don’t compost well- so pineapple skin, and seeds from things like pumpkins. Whilst some fruit and veg left over are compostable, they don’t very well in home conditions... And there are things you can’t compost- chicken bones, egg shells and the rare left over food (I also plan well and serve before it’s brought to the table, but sometimes something has gone bad or someone isn’t hungry and there is something left over).

Teabags don’t all contain plastic by the way- you can get teabags without plastic, ie Clipper. Full compostable teabags :)

Eggshells are brilliant for compost

I saw a fb Post ages ago where the council has stuck a note on a bin telling the owner to use the food waste bin not longer after they’d been launched. She wrote a note back ‘I have a husband and 3 teenage sons, I can barely get the food from the shopping bag to the cupboard wtf is good waste?’

If you don’t need it, don’t use it.

The council are using the food leftovers for compost. Making compost is much better for the environment. If food waste is left to rot amongst plastic it lets off a lot more CO2 than when it’s in a compost heap. Because it cannot break down properly. So please dispose of your waste responsibly.

We have a waste disposal unit so all our food waste gets ground up & flushed away.

I have tried composting eggshells, but they were still around when I used the compost years later, even though I had broken them up when adding to the bin. I gave up putting them in the compost at that point!

Eggshells do not compost down, but are useful as a "grit" in the compost to allow it to retain air and not become a sludgy mess.

Mine has veg peelings, the tops of strawberries, scraps of pastry, teabags, heels of bread.

If you don’t need it, don’t use it.

Don’t feed bread to the birds. It’s nutritionally very low value, but it fills them up so they don’t eat other things that they need. It can cause them to starve even if they’re full. Fruit and veg is fine, though.

Mine is mostly chicken carcasses (post roast and soup), veg peelings (no garden compost bin) and leftover bits that the kids served themselves but didn’t eat (I’m working on that!) and coffee / tea. Plus the end of the bread - in this weather it goes mouldy fast and I don’t have freezer space or anywhere cooler to keep it.

Compostable caddy bags are a game changer! I have a little caddy in the kitchen with a bag inside it, and when its full I tie it up and put it in the bigger bin which the council collect. Before I used them I had a very gunky bigger bin (including one summer, maggots - yuk) - now its a lot better all round. I put some veg peelings in my compost bin, but, as a busy gardener, the damn thing is usually full of garden waste.

Ok I will try these game-changing compostable caddy bags; it'll save going out to the garden bin if I can add eggshells to try to make it worthwhile. If it isn't worthwhile then I can switch back to just veg and put them out in the garden bin. How many litres is the little grey kitchen caddy supplied by the council, does anybody know so I can get the best bag size?

So much! Animal bones/fat, vegetable peelings, DD's leftovers that can't be salvaged (weaning), tea, DP's daily mass of teabags, leftovers that can't be reused.

I'd say most of it is the food DD throws on the floor and DP's teabags!

I used the crappy little thing they handed out for a little while until it werent mouldy and minging. It was fine when there was enough waste to fill the bag quickly, but some days there was only a bit in there so it would be a 'waste' to chuck it and the bag out for the sake of a couple of scraps. Replacing the bin liners cost way too much.
I do however, run out to the wheelie bin and chuck the stuff in there. I'm pretty decent at doing that actually.

I have this Joseph Joseph one. It holds 4 litres of waste.

Oh, and yanbu

Originally we were told to put veg peelings in with the garden stuff, but then that was stopped.
In my tiny garden I don't have room for a compost bin so my food caddy is full every week. I don't have leftovers at all but eat lots of veg including cauliflower and peas from the pod so their stalks and pods, potato peelings etc go into the caddy .
Then tea leaves ( I use only loose tea) and coffee grounds. Lots because I'm at home most of the day.

Don't know if I am being stupid but our council doesn't collect food waste separately or supply any sort of bin for it and we don't have a garden so not much we can do. Luckily there isn't loads of it. I tend to eat the bits of apple skin etc that DD refuses!

I moved to an area with a different council, I miss having a food waste bin! I don't want to compost things, and I wish I had a different place to put food waste. Although we don't have much in the way of waste it would be nice to have.

Use caddy bags and I found the lock on the bin that goes outside stopped any animals getting into it.

I don’t use mine because it only gets collected once a fortnight and the thought of it makes me want to vomit. I’ve never seen one out on our street so obviously no-one else uses theirs either.

We don’t eat meat, I don’t peel fruit or veg, the dogs eat eggshells and the odd leftover. I can’t really think of anything I’d put in it actually.

We don't have food waste bins here. And a tiny garden with a small compost bin that really isn't big enough. If you take garden waste to the tip they charge you. And If you have tetra packs ( so juice cartons) you have to take them to the tip. Which is 30 minutes drive away. Our council is crap. But if you don't have food waste then don't stress

Our council provides compostable bags to line the caddy. We have open sacks for garden waste that are only emptied fortnightly and you're not supposed to put peelings or food waste in them.

The council website says you can put teabags in the caddy. Also, I just googled and PG Tips are apparently plastic-free now.

I'm glad I just checked the website actually because I've learned that they will also collect small electrical items, batteries, reusable textiles and shoes.

I don’t. I have two dogs and they eat some left over stuff on plates. I ha e rabbits who eats some of the veggie waste. Anything else goes in the bin. I’m fanatical about recycling though.

We have a food waste bin, the council provides comparable bags to go in it. We put food waste in it,veg peelings,leftovers that my 1 year old has thrown on the floor, banana skins, apple cores, teabags etc. We don't have much of a garden so we don't compost. Birds shouldn't really eat bread as it just bloats them up.
Our council compost food waste so it's much better than putting it in the main bin, also our food waste gets collected every week whereas our main bin is only collected every 4 weeks.

@MRex I recommend buying them from Wilkos - much cheaper than the supermarkets