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 the food caddies for years and have always been forbidden from putting food waste in the garden waste bin as it contaminates it and means it can't be composted. Before caddies we had to put it in the general waste bin.

The only issue I've had with the kerb caddies is with the refuse collectors throwing them down after they've emptied them. Once the handle breaks they can't lock shut and then the foxes get them open and rotting food is strewn everywhere.

Our cardboard goes in our recycling box, so can’t take bulky cardboard. Used to be able to put it in our garden waste bag but not anymore. So anything bulky has to go to recycling centre

We don't use ours as it encourages rats.

I've tried using them twice. I even applied for a job emptying them before I knewhowgross they are. The first time was in the Summer and the kitchen filled with flies and the smell was horrendous, I never used I again and vomitted emptying it, we moved house and they have just instigated it here in March. I tried it and first time it was ok. Second time was Easter and they didn5 come empty it, house full of flies again. I put outside and it was emptied yesterday bu5 I'm not using it again. I shall go back to using the compost heAp in the garden.

I often try to put something like an old bread crust at the bottom of the bag in the caddy to stop it all getting too soggy. And we use the larger size caddy bags - if they’re more roomy they don’t seem to rip so easily. Also, I take the little caddy out to the bin rather than risking carrying the flimsy bag by itself. This all helps!
But every three days is about right really - we’ve only got a small inside caddy and that’s about how long it takes to fill up.

Or gets hacked up, bagged and stuck in the general waste.

Or burnt in the back garden.

Boith probably more likely than endless trips to recycling (which aren't allowed here anyway).

Our council is not doing it because they have a new contract with a fancy new waste site apparently. Don't know how that works.
I don't want a food caddy anyway because we live in a park home and space is at a premium.
We don't have garden waste collections because they cost more and they get enough out of me. We take ours to the tip when we've built up enough.

No I am not recycling food waste. I don’t want yet another bin to have to contend with.

Well they are new in our county started a few weeks ago.

@Doggymummar where did the food waste go before? A bin is a bin. If it went in normal waste bin why didn’t it attract flies then?

Our council introduced these several years ago. It was withdrawn very soon after because no one did it. My guess is there will be another large batch of plastic caddies in landfill. Ridiculous.

The concept of food caddies and council food waste collections is not new. Clearly lots of councils have been doing this, but many have not. The council that I am in has never done this, we got our bin in April and collections have just started. Our neighbouring council in a different county has been collecting food waste for many years.

What's new are the new regulations requiring all councils in England to do weekly (free) food waste collections.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4vwj0yj20o

Durham area

Food waste (inc meat - cooked & uncooked, bones etc) have gone into the green bin (fortnightly collection) along with garden waste for years here.
This is composted, and the result (called soil improver) can be collected free (shovel your own) from a number of the sites, or purchased in bags from the smaller sites.

I use an indoor tub (large icecream size - 5 litre?), line it with a square of newspaper and then I empty it every couple of days - depending on the weather and where we are in the recycling cycle I wrap in a couple of pieces of broadsheet newspaper, or just straight into the green bin.

Due to the new rules we are getting indoor & outdoor food waste caddies (weekly collection). Collections start 1 June.

Green bin will remain for garden waste (fortnightly - free) and we can now apply for an extra garden waste bin (brown) at no additional cost (used to be around £60pa for the extra garden waste bin).
Excellent for me as I've also been using the one from the previously empty house next door but new neighbours have recently moved in.

Recycling (paper, card, metal, glass & hard plastic) all go into the blue bin (fortnightly).
Soft plastics are being added to this under the new regime.

We are also getting general waste wheelie bins, until now we have just had black sacks as the council official line was that wheelie bins encourage general waste rather than recycling.

East Cambs District Council.

Had them for at least 10 years here. Occasionally get maggots when it's very warm. We have a smaller caddy on the counter top and empty it when needed.

Our general waste is emptied every two weeks, and with other recycling and taking soft plastics to the supermarket the general waste is often only half full.

I’m really surprised you’re only just getting this. It’s so much better to keep all the food separate so you don’t get maggots in the general waste.

If you are careful closing the bin (indoor caddy or outdoor, though compostable bags prevent issues in the outdoor caddy) in summer and flies can't get it, you won't get maggots. Bit grim when you do, but they don't kill you. My neighbour puts her little green compostable bags in the freezer in the summer when full, and then puts them in the outdoor bin on collection day. Prevents any pre-collection in-bin composting!

We've had a food bin for as long as I have lived here and it is fab - no smells from the wheely bin, ever! We recycle everything and are in one of the highest recycling districts in the country; we have one landfill collection every 3 weeks and ours (family of 4) is only ever half full.

I separate veg waste to go in the garden compost and cooked/fatty/protein waste to go in the council bin. Its all in bags outside, and the bin closes so it is rat-proof and fox-proof. Its worth getting used to it - sending food waste to landfill is criminal.

It’s only just started round my way - bins were delivered last month and collections start next week. I can see why they’re doing it but we’ll see how it goes. Given that the council regularly forget to collect the three bins I’m already maintaining I don’t have full confidence but maybe they’ll surprise me!

Going back to the OPs original point I do sympathise. In the scheme of things the bins aren’t huge but they do take up space. I’ve managed to find some space in the kitchen for the little one after some reorganising but the outside one is proving a little trickier to house. I have bin sheds due to issues with vermin which means either a squeeze or storing it elsewhere which isn’t massively efficient. Not everyone has the same luxury of space as others and what works for one can be a massive pain for some.

I’m old enough to remember the little plastic boxes which preceded the recycling bins, one for paper and one for glass/tins etc. They also took up space and were massively impractical on a windy day given their lack of lids. They used to get chucked about by the bin collectors and quickly broke. Local council eventually scrapped them as they were more trouble than they were worth. Worst part was they weren’t actually recyclable and didn’t fit in the bin so sat gathering dust in many gardens for years!

We took delivery of our new food caddies in March but we're not allowed to use them until June. I really don't have a problem with them because at the moment our food waste has to go in with general rubbish which is only collected fortnightly whereas the food caddies will be weekly.

The only problem I'll have is remembering which bin goes out on which week because as well as the general rubbish, recycling and garden waste bins we've also now been given a glass recycling bin - so four full sized dustbins plus a food caddy!

It’s really not that difficult. Sigh.

What kitchen bin with an inside food caddy do you use? That would be very useful. Just found out about clips to hang the outside food caddy to the inside of a big wheelie bin so will give those a go

On the compost heap

We’ve just started food waste collection in our area. Four weeks in and the caddies are already broken from being thrown at houses by the bin men. When it’s windy they will join the plastic bags (bins would be much more practical) for cardboard/paper collection by being blown in the river. It’s like the council is determined to see our town turned into a giant open air tip.
A good idea in theory but not translated through to being good in reality.

What new food caddies?

Not everyone lives in the same town as you 😂

@Doggymummar doesn’t that get flies. And I assumed the food waste bin was for people who don’t have compost heaps or for waste you wouldn’t put on a compost heap. You wouldn’t stop using compost heap just because you have a food caddy