SLOP BUCKETS

We don't have slop buckets!

Yes, I'm the same, TerriBull. I've never used the bin provided by our council for waste food, we have enough recycling boxes/bags to heft up our many steps to the pavement as it is!

I also freeze anything which might become smelly and dispose of it on bin day. We don't throw much food away anyway, and I put peelings, leaves and vegetable waste in the compost. The thought of a week's worth of scrapings and fatty bits decomposing in a lidded bucket turns my stomach - what do they do with it anyway?

I have a kitchen caddy and a larger one for putting out on bin day. I compost veg peelings so there is usually only the odd mouldy slice of bread, but last week, when the weather was muggy, it was crawling in maggots when I opened it ! In future I shall freeze any odd bits, good idea Terri!

We don"t have one and I wouldn't anyway, as rarely have peelings, as I just wash the stuff and chop up ! Tea-bags I put on the garden!
I think they are a health hazard and in actual fact was reading that in last weeks paper.

We don't have a "slop bucket" provided by our council (what a horrible term anyway) I have always frozen anything that is smelly and left in the bottom drawer of the freezer until collection day.

Phew not just me then!

I think its an EU directive.

We used our green bin to store coal, as we have 2 compost bins, and a small garden.

Rarely any leftovers, reused or in the freezer, seems us lot here have gardens, brains.

We have a little brown bin which has biodegradable liners, provided by the council. We have it sitting in the cupboard under the sink. Into it goes any food waste (not much of that!) and things like veg peelings etc, and used teabags. At the end of the day, the bag is tied up and placed into the large brown bin outside. This bin is also used for garden waste and is collected/emptied fortnightly, and is composted by the council. We've had no problems with any smells/flies etc. Fife has the highest recycling rate in Scotland, apparently.

We don't have one provided by the council - thankfully. Wouldn't use it but no doubt one will arrive at some point.

We don't have a slop bucket. We hardly have any food waste anyway. Stale bread goes to the chickens and veg peelings added to the compost heap. We have a green bin that's collected fortnightly so any chicken bones etc., are wrapped in newspaper and frozen until it's time to put the bin out.

There is never anything much in the large green bin so I top it up with garden rubbish because I don't want the council to stop coming down the farm road because the blue bin is always full.

I have to pay for the biodegradable liners and they're quite expensive. The green caddy from the council is far too small so I put the liner in a bowl until it's full. I've had to give up on my compost bin because of the rat problem I had.

We have a food recycle bin from the council, it works fine and as long as the lid is closed properly no smells or maggots problem exist as flies can't get into the bin . . I empty a small caddy in the kitchen daily into the bio-degradable bin bag every day and its collected weekly and I then wash them out ready for the next week. The council send all food and garden waste to be heat treated and composted and its finally bagged up as garden compost as far as I can ascertain and sold for a small fee to residents.

I hate the term slop bucket too!!

We have a small black plastic lidded kitchen caddy which I line with biodegrable bags provided by the Council. I take the bags out every evening, knot them and throw them in the recycling bin. They don't tend to smell because the food scraps etc are contained in the tied up bag. No loose slops.

We have the same as tanith

We do the same, tanith. The waste goes into a compostable bag inside the small bin, then bag tied up and put into the outside bin daily. The outside bin has a handle that shuts it securely.
I don't keep the small bin anywhere near a food preparation area and wash it out regularly. It seems to be fine and shuts securely.
We have had more problems with putting peelings on the compost heap, but now have a green compost bin with a lid for veggie food waste besides the open one for garden waste.

My small garden is now paved over so I no longer have a compost heap. We do have a large brown bin for food and garden waste. I have little food waste but what I do have I either wrap up with newspapers or if it is eg orange peelings, I may drop that straight into the bin but usually on top of grass cuttings. I hate the term slop bucket- it reminds me of reading about prisoners slopping out in some prisons.

Not sure I like the sound of the system of mixing it up with the garden waste, although our garden waste goes in bags not a bin.

Councils don't seem to have a 'joined up' national scheme which would surely be cheaper in the long term?

My council sells beck the manure to the local punters so I suppose at least they are making some money out of it.

I agree "rosequartz" going to a different council 2 miles away and it is very different.

Tanith, your council's procedures sound similar to ours. I also don't like the term 'slop bucket' - makes me think of the lady who lived along from us when I was little. She emptied her slop bucket in the outside toilet in the mornings... ('yuck' emoticon).

We used the "kitchen caddy" that the council provided to mix paint in!

Peelings etc go straight into the green wheelie bin (I try not to go in it too, after the knife debacle) anything smelly like uneaten cat food gets wrapped in newspaper and then put in the wheelie, along with garden waste etc. We too have a fortnightly collection.

In N. Somerset we have a small brown kitchen caddy which is kept under the sink and a larger bin which is kept outside. I line the caddy with a bag and all food waste in wrapped in either newspaper or kitchen towel before being put in the caddy. The bag is then put in the larger bin at the end of the day. This waste is collected every week. I have never had a problem with maggots, flies or smells, even in all the very hot weather we have had recently. N. Somerset have recently stated that we can now use plastic carrier bags to line the caddys.

plastic carrier bags defeats the object of recycling surely ?

We get small biodegradable bags (made from potato starch I think) free from the council for the food waste.
Not had maggots or a smell even in the hot weather.

Terribull I could have written your OP. I stopped using the "food waste bins" a while ago because they are slatted (for air I presume) and the slats would catch decomposing food in them (e.g. when husband missed the liner bag!) Anyway I stopped because I do enough good through recycling.

Now when I see the food bins left outside homes on my street on pickup day (and sometimes they are put out and no one comes to collect - double yuk) - often they are absolutely filthy. Not a very encouraging or appealing system at all.

Terribull all it takes is a quick wash out once a week to keep them clean I wouldn't want a filthy smelly bin outside either so I just wash it regularly. If our bins are missed we can e-mail or ring the council and they come back in a small van to empty missed bins.