Food waste bins

[Mmdilemma]

Just moved into a property which has those little brown food waste bins. Is it compulsory to use them? Some of the neighbours say they don’t and they just continue putting food waste in the black bin bags. Never come across these bins before so not sure what the process is. Do you buy mini bags and tie them up every day and place them inside the brown bin?

Why wouldn't you use it? Plus, it makes your normal bin much nicer (cleaner, less smelly) if it's all dry stuff and no food.

Our LA supplies biodegradable bin liners for the (indoor) caddy. I empty the caddy as and when required into the (outside) food waste bin.

I don't think they're compulsory as our council only collects the contents inside a green garden waste bin, which cost a fee and are optional to have.

We use compostable bags and take them out to the green bin when they're full. Our black bin smells a lot better and fills up a lot slower when we use the food waste bin.

I hate the stinking thing in my kitchen but I do use it. I think ours is worse because of cat food leftover... heave

Your council is likely not to empty your bin if you put food waste in the wrong one.

Do you have an indoor caddy and an outdoor bin?

Our council provides green biodegradable bags for the indoor caddy and then once that's full it gets tied up and put in the outdoor food/garden waste bin.

Our food waste is collected every 2 weeks whereas general waste is only collected every 3 weeks so we do use the food waste collection.

The house came with built in caddies x 2. Then the council bins outside
So I could use one little bag per day and then transfer to the little outside bin for the sake of the smell?

Our food waste is collected weekly whereas the black bin is collected 3 weekly so it makes more sense to use the food waste.

There are compostable food waste bags to line the indoor caddy. I just change the bag every couple of days or when it starts to smell. It’s not really any different to putting it into a general waste bin in the kitchen.

shall I buy 3 indoor bins? Like 1 bin with 3 sections.
food
normal
recycling
i don’t like the built in mini bins in the cupboard it must be so unhygienic

I use the compostable bags in mine and empty every day. Our black bin is every fortnight but the recycling and food caddy is every week.

It's really easy.

We have a big caddy outside and a small one which I keep on the counter top. The small one on the counter top I buy food caddy liners...like mini bin bags. When I'm prepping food or cleaning plates I put the food waste in. Empty most days or every other day into the big caddy outside. You can buy bigger liners for the outside ones but I don't bother.

We have had these in my borough for years. They are collected weekly, any less frequently than that would be grim.

We have a small food waste caddy lined with a compostable liner in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. I keep the council brown bin outside my back door. I put vegetable waste (fruit and veg peelings, cores, dead flowers etc) in there and then a weekly trip down to the compost heap in the garden.

Other cooked food waste (bones, egg shells, old bread, food left after meals) goes into the small caddy under the kitchen sink. In very hot weather, if I'm worried it will smell or get maggots, I freeze it in the far back corner of my freezer bottom drawer (in the liner of course) and don't put it out until the night before bin collection day. We never have more than one liner full of food waste per week because most of it goes on the garden compost heap.

Our council doesn't provide these but we have a little kitchen caddy which we empty into the compost bin at the end of the garden.

There's never been a smell. Maybe that's because we're vegan so it's mostly fruit and veg peelings and teabags.

The only problem we have is fruit flies in the summer. They can be a real nuisance.

You won't need to do it daily, it will cost a fortune in the special liners. Maybe in hot weather a couple of times a week? Lidl and Aldi do the best liners - nice and big and cheap.

The one we keep indoors is like this Ikea link but any large supermarket or DIY shop will sell them.

Our council had been using them for donkeys, probably 10yrs or more.

Small caddy in the kitchen which you line with a biodegradable bag (supplied FOC by the council). Any food waste, peelings, eggshells, teabags etc go in and when full (3-4 days in our house) the bag is tied up and put into the (larger) outside caddy which is then emptied weekly by the council.

A very successful system IMO and no food in the main bin means no smells or fly's in the summer.

I love my food caddy!

Small caddy in kitchen, doesn't smell as emptied every couple of days. Whenever it looks a bit grim we stick it through the dishwasher.

Now we take plastic wrappers to Tesco for recycling, we barely use the grey bin anymore.

Yes, I love my food waste bin too. So much more hygienic and the outside bin never smells or gets maggot juice. I recycle every darn thing and we now only half fill a small wheelie bin every fortnight for landfill. It still feels like too much, but I do my best.

Worn out clothes including socks and underwear (washed of course) and shoes go to the council recycling centre. Also plastic clothes hangers, very old books no good for charity, broken electrical items, furniture that's had it's day.

Old towels to animal rescue charities.

Carrier bags go to the supermarket.

Flimsy plastic to a new special bin at the supermarket (thank you Aldi), I save piles of this although try to buy loose fruit and veg.

We use bars of soap instead of shower gel and refillable cleaning products and old fashioned washing powder in cardboard boxes. I'm going to move onto those Earth Breeze or Simple Sheets for laundry when I get through my current boxes.

Cloths for cleaning, rather than wipes or kitchen roll, which get rinsed or soaked if dirty and then washed in the towels hot wash.