How to make food waste caddies more sanitary?

[georgarina]

I've got a caddy from the council to recycle food waste, but it's really horrible :( smells bad, steams up and the inside gets wet with rotting juice, and I have to keep it on the kitchen surface so toddler DCs can't get to it.

(I can't keep it outside because we live in a building with daily rubbish collection so it will be collected daily if left outside.)

Is there any way to make it more sanitary/inoffensive?

Thanks, I do clean it and line it with a bag but it still gets horrible!

And would be v wasteful to put out every day because there is so little to put in, would literally be a few peels and bits per day. So I've been emptying it once every 4/5 days when it's half full but it's still awful.

I'll try putting newspaper in the bottom and see if that helps at all. It's just the hot water steaming whenever I lift the lid...😞

After at least 15 years living in areas with weekly food waste collection, we've just moved to somewhere that doesn't (and it's a rental property with a tiny garden, so no composter either). That is disgusting! Bins are still only emptied fortnightly here, but instead of a small bag of mostly dry waste that we put into the wheelie bin every fortnight, we now regularly have to deal with stinking kitchen binbags full of festering stuff that should be going to a recycling plant. We try hard to waste as little as possible, but I haven't figured out a way to make onion skins and fish bones edible yet, so there's nothing we can do. Gross gross gross.

I bought this one:
www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Kitchen-Compost-Caddy-Composting/dp/B008PQBFQO

It's ventilated so it doesn't go soggy/rotten/disgusting. It stays fine for a week usually.

Kitchen towel on the bottom and double bag the food waste bags. Don't let it fill right up either.

You need to empty it more than every 4 or 5 days. Don't leave it more than 2 or 3 at the most.

I agree with PP, once you have got used to a food waste caddy it feels wrong to contaminate your normal bin with food waste!!

If someone else has put their bin out, can't you just put your few peelings in their's everyday?

We use a large glass IKEA tupperware with a silicone lid that goes down the garden every day then straight into the dishwasher. Seems more sanitary than scratched plastic or bins with seams and corners. We have our own compost and a short garden though!

What are you putting in it to cause it to steam with water? If it's hot food/teabags etc you need to let them cool first.

I just have an open container (no lid) on the worktop. We only put fruit veg and peelings etc and we empty into our compost bin whenever it gets full or if there's anything more wet in it like melon. Some days it is emptied daily sometimes 2 or 3 days. I wouldn't want cooked food waste sitting around though.

Hot steam coming off it seems odd. What are you putting in there? Sound like it's fermenting so you're wasting a trick, you could be making booze!

I clean & dry after taking it out to the outside green bin and often double bag it.

Put teabags in an open container near the kettle and decant to the caddy when dry.

We leave the lid open so it doesn’t steam up with hot tea bags or fermenting food. Empty every couple of days and wipe/wash&dry as needed.

Are you talking about the main one that the council come and collect? We keep that one outside. Inside we have a much smaller one that we line with compostable bags and then when they are full, we take it out and put the bag in the outside one. The inside one gets washed and disinfected regularly. The outside one less so - although needs it badly currently. I have been meaning to remember to do it after garbage collection day - I usually spray it out then fill it with hot soapy water and bleach and leave to stand for at least a few hours.

We have a wheelie bin for food and garden waste plus a small bin for waste supplied by the council. I have my own small bin on the work surface lined with thick kitchen roll and a compostable bag. When it's full I put in small bin outside which is lined with thick kitchen roll. When I have three full bags I put them in a larger bag and put into the big bin which I have lined with newspaper. This keeps the bin relatively clean. The small bins I clean when needed with hot water and disinfectant.
I try to put stuff like old bread or rice on bottom so it soaks up any liquid.

At least now it's colder stuff outside shouldn't be too bad.
Ours is collected fortnightly. I meant to get the large bin cleaned when we had the really good weather but didn't get around to it so will wait until the spring.

I replaced the caddy from the council with a better quality oxo one. The seal is much better so no smells escape.

you also need to keep it somewhere cool.

We have the same one and it makes a massive difference. You don't get the condensation so the bin itself stays clean.

Just make sure you don't overfill it so that the inside of the lid stays clean as well

dont put liqid in them.
Wrap food waste in newspaper.
I empty mine once or at the most twice a week.
I line the inside with newspaper, and use one of these biodegradable bags inside (meant for this purpose).
If it gets full or gross, then I empty just after midweek. Otherwise, the day before the dustmen come

Gave up on mine because the foxes have figured out how to open them. Yes it was closed properly!

They are regularly turfed all over the street from neighbours.

To be clear the foxes aren't in the house 😂they have figured out who to open the supposedly fox proof outside bins!

I'm confused if you are talking about leaving the one the council collects in the house? I really really wouldn't if at all possible.

I have a countertop caddy- I use bio food bags and it also has a vented lid with a filter that I frequently replace. I rinse it out a lot.

I don't understand where the steam is coming from??

Don't put hot food in it, including tea bags - that's what makes it steam and then it all gets wet and leaky and the bags split.

We have a little dish for teabags, pop them there to cool and dry out, then just tip into the bin later on.

I have recently started using a countertop Bon to put the teabags in which stops the kitchen waste bag getting soaked through which seems to be helping.

I just need to sort out the fruit fly problem now as they like to live in the bag.

Presumably OP does not have a garden or a compost bin otherwise I'm sure she would have thought of this.

I empty daily but have an outside bin to put it in.

Just get it collected every day most people would be overjoyed to get it picked up daily

My sister puts her food waste in a green compostable plastic looking bag and ties a ikea food clip to it. As soon as it fills up she pops it into food waste bin outside (keeping the Clip). She used to have rotten food smell in her house even though she was fastidiously clean. Those boxes didn’t work for her, waste bags takes up very little space in the fridge. Unless of course you have loads of food waste.

I should add cos the food stays cold it doesn’t stink and there are no leaks.