New food bins

[Toomanyuglyplasticbins]

Will you be using the new food caddies & bins? Sick to death of my kitchen & garden resembling the local recycling centre. I do recycle most stuff & have regular trips to the tip; but even then one local authority varies from the next one in their recycling policies, so it all seems a bit.futile

We’ve had them for over a decade. They’re absolutely brilliant- the main bin never smells at all now. No more bin juice. All the food that makes the bin a bit nasty is all contained in the food waste caddy then the food waste bin outside. We bag up the little caddy’s worth every few days when it’s full and pop it in the larger food waste bin outside. I keep ours under the sink in a cupboard cos we’re short on surface space - I bring it out to the surface whenever we’re peeling things etc.

I’ve done this for 15-20 years, it’s totally normal and means the main bin smells much nicer. Not sure what the fuss is.

Never seen maggots in ours - we bag up the food waste in those flimsy food waste sacks (always get a slightly larger size so they aren’t pulled too tight). Need to clean the food waste bins out every couple of weeks but it’s way easier to give them a quick rinse than the main large kitchen bin.

Had them for 15 years in my old place, moved and they’ve just been introduced here.

The fuss is ridiculous, the anger and angst even more.

Like your term OP “sick to death”, really?

I'm sure we've had them for 20 years. Not an issue at all.
Make sure the bags are properly sealed and don't overfill them - no issues with maggots or smells at all.
Hardly anything in my general waste bin these days. This could be down to me actively buying less, with less packaging, but once you have your systems in place it isn't exactly taxing.

@GasPanic I don’t think I’ve come across food waste being required to go in the garden waste bin? Did that include things like meat, bones, etc? If so, I wonder why your council didn’t just stick with that as that surely would have met the new requirements. They were already collecting your food waste!

We don’t have these in our area, I think it’s like anything it just takes time to get used to it.

We got ours a couple of months ago and I really like it. We got a little kitchen caddy and and a bigger outside caddy that has a handle lock (I can't figure it out but DH seems confident!). Kitchen caddy sits on the kitchen work top (took up the space recent vacated by the perfect prep machine) and we take the bag out every day or every other day depending on what's in there.

Much nicer than a 2 weekly black bin which got a bit gross towards the end of the fortnight.

Really? But not maggots in your normal bin?

Our non recyclable rubbish is only collected fortnightly, whereas food waste is weekly, which is great.

No issue here, had it a long while. Love that there is less for the general waste bin which now only gets collected every three weeks. I buy the compostable bags off Amazon for the indoor food caddy, our council does not provide them, quite surprised that some do!
We try to minimize general waste.

Here is rural Norfolk we don't have them yet and no word on it. I can't even think where I'd have worktop space in my tiny kitchen for a bin. Or space in my side alley for another bin.

But they weren't collecting it once a week.

It was once every 2 weeks. The new government manadate I think is weekly food waste collection.

There is probably an issue that some councils charge for garden waste bins. Which means some people won't pay for then, and then stick the food waste in the general waste.

In my area the garden waste bins are not charged for, so everyone has them.

Because the collection methods operate differently in different areas and the new rules are a nationwide imposition separate to that this is why some people probably think they are a bit of a waste of time and money and others might think they are great or an enhancement of current collection.

They’re used for different things.
Food waste is used to create Biofuel and also some fertiliser for farming via anaerobic digestion.
Garden waste is used for compost.
Food waste mixed in with the garden waste means it can’t be used for the composting process due to contamination issues (not an issue for farming fertiliser as it goes through the anaerobic process to create it).

where do you live that you don’t have these? we’ve had them for 11 years. I have a kitchen bin with a food caddy section so that’s tidy and then we use the outside bin from the council. We don’t use the council caddy as the bin we bought is nicer.

I'm struggling with why some people are making such a fuss about them. We've had them years. Never noticed maggots.

Even my elderly DM in her 90s with cognitive issues can cope with them.

Our garden waste is collected fortnightly (and we have to pay for it). Food waste collected weekly and is free. We did get 2 caddies, small one for indoors and the main one for outside and collection. I notice that they are no longer providing a small caddy, but you can buy them or use another suitable container. We buy the compostable bags to put the food in, although these sometimes do degrade before collection. But other than that never had a problem with them

@MandyMotherOfBrian yes I know they are treated differently. Which is why I was surprised that a garden waste collection would allow food waste including meat, bones etc which means it can't be composted.

The other thing I note they have added round my way is that you are not allowed to leave any cardboard boxes bigger than a microwave oven.

Which if they actually enforce is going to piss people off no end.

I don't see why they would do this, because cardboard collection AFAIK actually makes them money.

The ones that go outside are small - like, up to your knees or similar. They can just sit on top of the wheelie bin or tuck in next to them. The inside caddies can be v compact and you could use any container you like. Always hard in a tiny kitchen to find space for things but they’re v handy. I’d hate to be without them.

Another one who has had them for years. Now, if we go away to an area that doesn’t have separate food waste, it makes me feel sick to put a chicken carcass or bits of rotting vegetables into the main bin. And then it sits around for up to two weeks until the collection. Yuk. And yet, it used to be what we all did.

Is that when collapsed and in the recycling wheelie bin, or do you have cardboard collected some other way? Not sure they could tell how big all the boxes in the bin originally was.

YABU. I’ve had one for more than 20 years. I think they’d great - they keep the general waste much cleaner and less smelly. The council takes the food waste every week and everything else once a fortnight.

I don't think people are making a massive fuss. They just don't really see the point of adding something that doesn't really improve the service for them and clearly costs the councils more money, at a time when I think most people are questioning how much council tax is and whether they get a good service.

The fact that it is government mandated gives no real ability for the councils to be flexible considering what their current waste collection arrangements are.

I dont have them yet

No separate bin for cardboard, just a caddy, which always gets filled. Boixes get left by the side (hence blown around).

If they had for example done an extra bin for cardboard that would have actually been useful.

I’ve got a separate waste container in my kitchen bin with a separate lid and a wheelie bin outside for food and garden waste that’s collected together weekly, been like this for years

some areas near me have started charging for garden waste but food is still free. Where they charge they just lift the lid to check you haven’t got half a tree in there

i did have a smaller caddy outside but when it was missed for collection (which it often was) it got really full after not being collected for 2 or 3 weeks so I went for the wheelie bin