… to not want my kitchen bin to smell bad?

[ViaRia]

I know how to prevent this from happening but my husband thinks I’m being over the top.

According to him “Kitchen bins smell bad” so I need not worry about it and he doesn’t like my suggestions to prevent the smell because he thinks it’s unnecessary effort.

Suggestions such as: change the bin liner if it smells even if it is not quite full to the top, give the bin a wash with spray and water if you find muck has managed to get out of the liner and onto the actual plastic bin.

Am I being unreasonable to want us to do things in order to prevent a bad smelling bin?

No not unreasonable. But one of the easiest things we’ve done is actually get a food caddy and all food and drink waste goes into that, in compostable bags and emptied every two days into the green recycling. Bin doesn’t smell and lasts twice as long.

I second getting a food caddy. I have to keep it just outside the back door as it was attracting fruit flies when it was inside. But it means my bin doesn’t smell

Yes - food caddy = no bin juice.

Absolutely agree, our general waste bins are not for food, all food goes in the food cady and it gets collected every week along with the recycling boxes

Do you have a system for what goes in it? If not, it will inevitably smell after a couple of days.
So either empty it that often (get a smaller bin if necessary) or separate your waste properly.
For what it's worth, we have:

• a kitchen bin that only needs emptying weekly if that because of the below...
• food waste caddy with liners to empty into the green dustbin
• a bag on the wall to pop recycling into (to store before emptying into the recycling dustbin)
• another bag to pop plastic film into (which can now be recycled at the supermarkets)
• a tub to pop foil into and squash up into a lump (because small bits of foil don't get registered by the recycling facility systems apparently)

People have given you good ideas to minimise smells. However … he doesn’t like my suggestions to prevent the smell because he thinks it’s unnecessary effort.
If you’re the one bothered by it, you will be the one emptying and cleaning yes? So why is he bothered by what you do? Unless you expect him to do it all? Then that is unreasonable.

I don't think it's hard to empty it when it starts to smell or give it a quick scoosh with spray and a wipe when you change the bag tbh so I'm on your side.

Kitchen bins should no longer smell because nothing dirty or gross goes in them anymore.

All plastic, glass, cardboard and paper gets recycled.

All food waste goes in the food waste bin.

The only thing the kitchen bin is for now is any non recycled plastics, kitchen roll and other odd things that need getting rid of.

There should be no smells to contend with!

@SpiceRat

People have given you good ideas to minimise smells. However … he doesn’t like my suggestions to prevent the smell because he thinks it’s unnecessary effort. If you’re the one bothered by it, you will be the one emptying and cleaning yes? So why is he bothered by what you do? Unless you expect him to do it all? Then that is unreasonable.

Yes, I realised this after I pressed post - the issue is the uncooperative other half!

Yes, DH does the bins and recycling and he is also opposed to a food caddy, which means the black bin bag gets smelly quickly and has to be changed often, which means more plastic in landfill.

I really don't want to take over.

You are not being unreasonable. My kitchen bin never smells and I would be rather upset if it did! Items for recycling get rinsed out. Nothing really smelly goes in the main bin. I also give it a bit of a clean every week. If, for example, i am cleaning out the fridge and have food items to throw out (which I try to avoid!) then those things go straight in the bin outside.

Food caddies with a biodegradable bag makes the smell go away. Now your DH just needs to use it...

@Woofwoofbarkbark not even council does food waste collection.

Ours is also very picky about what they will accept in the 3 recycling bins and will refuse to collect if you dare to mix them.

I've found getting a smaller bin helped as I could reach the bottom to clean it more easily and it gets emptied more often and straight after anything smelly like fish. (Short arms and big boobs make cleaning a deep bin problematic)

After you take a bag out giving it a wipe over before putting a new bag in is just standard isn't it? Otherwise of course it will smell. Not all areas take food waste, and even the ones that do you still have to give the food caddy a wipe down. Always better to take a 2/3rds bin out than a 4/3rds full one

I put everything (apart from recyclables) in my kitchen bin and it never smells. I change the bag when it is full and clean it with water and detergent once in a while. We don't have food waste collection where we are.

Not every council collects food waste, ours definitely don’t.

We don't have a kitchen bin full stop. Caddy for food waste, basket for recycling and then a bin bag on a hook for non recycling.

When my partner suggested this I was horrified as I was it will look ugly etc but we put the bin bag out regularly and there is never a bin to clean

@Woofwoofbarkbark

Kitchen bins should no longer smell because nothing dirty or gross goes in them anymore.

All plastic, glass, cardboard and paper gets recycled.

All food waste goes in the food waste bin.

The only thing the kitchen bin is for now is any non recycled plastics, kitchen roll and other odd things that need getting rid of.

There should be no smells to contend with!

Exactly this point. It's no effort for us because it never smells.

@Woofwoofbarkbark not every area has food waste collections. We have fortnightly general waste including food, fortnightly recycling and fortnightly garden waste April-November.

Sorry I forgot not all councils collect food waste.

I live in Fevon and our recycling is bloody fantastic. You can recycle pretty much everything.

We have 5 people in our house and we use around 1 bin bag a month/6 weeks!

More councils should be doing it.

We have food waste collection and everything else that can't be recyled I wash before putting in the bin because I can't stand the smell.

We don’t have food waste collection. But once every few weeks (or if it starts to smell) we clean the bin with spray and a cloth and let it dry before the new bin bag goes in.

Very important to clean the inside of the lid.

I have two bin liners in the bin and when emptying the bin I leave the outer one which protects the actual bin and just chuck out the inner one with the contents. Saves cleaning the bin itself. Every so often I change both liners. A smaller bin means stuff doesn’t have as long to fester (there is always the odd container that can’t be cleaned enough to go in recycling). Same with the food waste caddy - I keep a white bin liner in there and just chuck the biodegradable one with the contents. I change them both every so often. Smelly bins urgh…

Seems that most of us agree that we would want to avoid smelly bins, so that’s good.

To clarify, by ‘kitchen bin’ I’m talking about a built in unit which houses three containers - recycling, general waste and (a recent addition) food waste. Husband objected to the food waste initially as well, and he still calls it ‘the slop bucket’.

I don’t expect him to do it all but there’s little point in me cleaning it up and then within a few days he’s made it messy again. I think it needs both of us on board. Otherwise it falls to me all the time, which is not fair. @SpiceRat what in my op made it sound as though I thought he was solely responsible for it?

I have a very small bin and empty/clean it daily so no smells. I am very sensitive to smells so hate dirty bins.