Nursery leftovers, shall I butt out?

[Neonlemon]

When I pick my DD up from nursery at lunchtimes the food waste is brought through in a large polythene bag and taken somewhere. It is nearly always full up with uneaten veg and I wondered whether this could be used for a womery or for making compost?

If it is just going straight in the bin it seems a shame it isn't being re-used. Nursery have a forest school and I think it would definitely help teach older children about food waste, recycling etc. Trouble is, I'm slightly concerned they might not take too kindly to a parent making such a 'helpful' suggestion.

Shall I email or just leave it?

Thanks!

What are you classing as leftovers? My chickens love the leaves off the cauliflower after I take the head off. Ditto courgettes and marrows from my garden in the summer that's been bit too catterpillared.

I don't know to be honest, all I know is that it gets taken out to the bin store along with the dirty nappies etc.

If the veg is from your garden, you trip off the leaves and give them to your hens, that's fine, and legal.

If you take the cauliflower inside the house, trim off the leaves and then give them to the hens, that's illegal.

It's bonkers I know, but post F&M the Animal By Products law was (very badly) drawn up to keep animal by products out of the livestock food chain

the thinking behind the legislation was really aimed at excluding commercial kitchen waste, but it didn't have any exclusions for domestic household kitchens, or Vegan restaurant waste.

Bottom line, once you take food into your house, you can't legally feed it to livestock. Ditto commercial premises.

If you keep oats/pasta etc outside, use an outdoor stove to cook it for the little feathery darlings, that's OK 😉

Nursery workers are on minimum wage, we are stretched for time as it is as theres always something to do. Often paperwork and planning is done in our own time unpaid. I can guarantee that they will not have the time to separate veg, and organise leftovers in this way. Lunchtimes in a nursery are busy enough, let alone then faffing about with the food the children didn't want.

There is barely enough funding in most places to even keep afloat or replace much needed resources. So no spare funds to pay for a wormery, compost bin etc.

So whilst it seems like a lovely idea, it is unrealistic in the early years. And if management decide to do it, the nursery staff in the rooms will not thank you when they are expected to find time in the already busy day to do organise this.

I do see where you're coming from and thanks for your insight. It's a non-starter if it places more demands on staff, they do a marvellous job. Perhaps naively I thought a bag of uneaten veg could just be added to the existing heap, no faffing required.

We have food waste bins & bags supplied by the local council - is this not usual in UK ?

ALL food waste - cooked & raw - is collected.

You will be seen as 'that parent!' Don't

Oh crikey, too late. I was buoyed by the largely positive responses that I got in touch with them. Slightly regretting it now.

That is madness. Looks like I've been breaking the law for the last 6 years daily!

We had this discussion at work once... I said I didn't put cooked food on the compost as it would attract rats. A colleague replied, "So how do rats cook in the wild, then?" I laughed so hard that even when the boss came in I just couldn't stop. 😂

Yep, if that's what you've done.

Buy bread, give it direct to chickens from your car/bag. Legal

Buy bread, take it inside house, bring it back out, give it to chickens. Illegal.

It's bonkers, but it's the law and has a hefty fine, if you are caught

Hahaha

As long as you and all the other parents would be okay for staff to divert their attention away from the kids to do composting?

I doubt it...

This is someone practicing to be that parent ready for when their child starts Reception.

You seem very knowledgeable on this and it's news to me. I'm struggling to understand the purpose of the legislation and would be grateful for clarification. You said it is "to keep animal by products out of the livestock food chain". But veg, bread, oats aren't animal by products. So why would they need to be kept out of animals diets (regardless of whether they entered the home or not) ?

Disclaimer: long week, very tired, brain possibly not firing on all cylinders.

Most nurseries I’ve covered in recently are barely in ratio and depend on their extremely poorly paid staff staying late after the nursery closes to tidy and set up. The last thing they’d want to hear is ‘why are you throwing away the kids unfinished dinners? Why aren’t you separating the foods out from each other plate by plate and starting a wormery?’

I am knowledgeable on this.

Animal by product, doesn't mean what it sounds like. Unfortunately. It encompasses anything from a kitchen, hence the problem.

The Animal By Product Act, was brought in post Foot and Mouth which was terrible in 2000

The Act was designed to keep commercial kitchen waste, containing meat residues, out of the livestock food chain post F and M, (quite rightly) but was very poorly written

So it didn't exempt normal, domestic, kitchen and household life.

Chickens, however kept (pets, backyard) are still classed as livestock)

I know, it's bonkers, but it's the law.

@Feministwoman woman is absolutely right although I was led to believe food from vegan kitchens is ok.

Further explanation here www.gov.uk/government/news/apha-warns-not-to-feed-kitchen-scraps-to-farm-animals-because-of-disease-risk

Compost heaps need managed properly. No cooked food. Your child's nursery would end up having a rat problem. It's a shame the council don't seem to recycle food separately in your area? Also in our area nurseries pay extra to have nappy waste taken away separately- it surprises me that everything is being lumped together.

Also I'm a childminder and if a parent suggested a wormery with left overs I think I'd laugh. When children eat they mix everything around their plates so it would be very difficult to only end up with the veg. All our food is put on food waste which is recycled. You have to keep in mind all the hygiene regs that nurseries must abide to and a compost area would need something constructed around it. Fine if the nursery has loads of outdoor space but otherwise they'd lose area for playing. Nurseries and childminders are inspected by food standards agency just like restaurants - and they are rigorous.

That was uncalled for.

Thank you, that's really helpful. I think I'll leave it in that case. I genuinely thought the uneaten food could simply go into a heap/womery type set up. I know how stretched staff are so obviously wouldn't want to place extra demands on them. I just see lots of food getting chucked and thought something better could be done with it.