To consider giving up on food recycling because of fox incursion

[CarlaH]

I am just fed up with coming out in the morning to find our food waste strewn all over the road. We have to put our bins out the evening before as we can never tell when the binmen will come. At the moment they are coming mid morning but they did that before so we started putting our food waste bins out later only for them to return to coming at 6am.

We construct a sort of boxed in arrangement with our other bins because the fox had realised that if we sandwiched the food bin between two other bins it could push it out. Last night I couldn't see any way it could push the bin but still this morning the food bin was on its side on the pavement and the food was everywhere.

We could secure it with a bungee cord but having seen the way the binmen behave I doubt they would be willing to spend the time to wrestle it off and would probably chuck it away as well. They literally walk down the road, empty the food bins into a large bin and then hurl, and I mean hurl, the empty bin on to the pavement or road. I think that as a result of that treatment our bin closure mechanism isn't as robust as it might be.

Any ideas?

I am not sure that would work since they presumably only find out the food tastes rank after they have spread it all over the road?

I think spraying a noxious substance like bleach onto the food waste bin would be extremely irresponsible! Even if you don't care about the suffering of any curious fox (or cat - cats are attracted to chlorine/bleach type smells) who might lick it, what about the poor binmen? If they get bleach on their hands or even their gloves and absent-mindedly push back their hair or wipe sweat away from their forehead, they could get bleach in their eyes and suffer permanent eye damage.

Yes thinking more about it I agree that bleach isn't a good idea so won't be doing that.

Loads of humane fox repellent sprays/solutions online eg this one which is chilli/garlic/citronella. Just mixed reviews on how effective they are! https://amzn.eu/d/cZdPWIZ

I didn't say on the bin. Around it. That means on the ground. So that the smell deters them from approaching and attacking it.

I don't think spraying bleach on the ground is any better! The weather is warm, people (including children) are walking around in bare feet. Wild animals (and pets) are also likely to get the bleach on their paws, and then lick it off - and for the wild animals, they're unlikely to get help from a vet. There's also the effect on aquatic life to consider when it's washed into the storm drains the next time your neighbours wash their car or water their garden.

Bleach is too dangerous to use it in the way that you're suggesting.

A friend of mine had this problem and put all food waste in the freezer and got out at 6am for the bin men.

If it is the same fox, they will quickly learn not to open a bin with cayenne pepper. And you can also spray it on the lid and handle and anything the fox might grip by mouth.

Update

Tried putting the food bin out with only veg/fruit waste. This morning it has again been knocked over so I think we will be giving up now.

Definitely just stop putting any meat or fish in. We have the same with the very smart urban Foxes in London, so it's exclusively veg that goes in and with the handle locking it seems to do the trick. Very occasionally they open it but I suspect this is more down to a teen not following orders re meat !
Eta just seen your update, I'd give it a few days and also remember the bin may still smell of meat? Do you bag up the food waste too in composting bags?

Yes that is a good point about the smell lingering from previous weeks. I am going to give the bin a very good clean and try just once more. We do use the composting bin liners and thankfully this time most of the waste stayed inside it which was an improvement on last week where it was strewn all over the shop.

Just noticed this post. Our bin was attacked after 6am so in broad daylight. My partner had to leave our house at around 7.15am and it was fine then so the fox came after that.

I came out at around 10am to add something to the bin and that's when I saw the mess.

You don't get rats if you compost properly in a compost bin

I am afraid that we are not garderers and I just don't want a compost bin.