Food waste caddy - ugh!

All local authorities in Wales collect food waste weekly. The majority is treated at anaerobic digestion (AD) units and turned into biogas (which can be used to produce electricity) and fertiliser.
We’re obviously a really mucky bunch in Wales - or we’ve adapted to recycling and found ways to manage our food waste without smells or flies (I don’t really understand how people get flies in their bins if they keep the lid closed).

1) you can use the bags supermarkets supply loose fruit and veg in (and sometime other things) - these are biodegradable.
2) a double layer of kitchen paper on the bottom works as well
3)you can put the caddy through the dishwasher
So I don’t really see the problem.
We have had food caddies for years , the contents go in the green garden waste bin which is collected weekly (as opposed to separate compost)
I actually keep mine in the utility room but many people have theirs in their kitchen.

RosiesMaw2

1) you can use the bags supermarkets supply loose fruit and veg in (and sometime other things) - these are biodegradable.
2) a double layer of kitchen paper on the bottom works as well
3)you can put the caddy through the dishwasher
So I don’t really see the problem.
We have had food caddies for years , the contents go in the green garden waste bin which is collected weekly (as opposed to separate compost)
I actually keep mine in the utility room but many people have theirs in their kitchen.

Just this apart from keeping it under the kitchen sink, emptied regularly it never smells. And yes, I’d know if it did!

I have a bucket under the sink for anything that I can compost and a dog and husband for the rest. The only thing I put in the rubbish is fishy things and they never are allowed to linger in the house for long! I don't use a caddy.

The only things we put in our recycle Council caddy is bones which is collected weekly. Everything else such as teabags, veg n fruit peelings, egg shells, toilet roll tubes all go in our own composting area in the garden which all makes lovely compost with the general garden waste added to it. I never understand buying plastic bags to line bins with so environmentally unfriendly unless you buy the expensive recyclable ones.

All my kitchen waste, vegetables things that you would compost, no meat etc I freeze.
Then monthly use the veg with shredded paper and cardboard
and do direct composting.
Never ever put veg in bin, it is too previous.

For the last few years we have been given a small bin to put next to the sink from our local council. They also supply compostable plastic liners to use. I use a double liner because they start to disintegrate after a week. Fine most of the year but pretty disgusting when the weather gets hot.

Our local council provided us with two caddies, both have lids and a handle which when upright locks the caddy. The small one is kept under our sink, we line it with compostable bags from Aldi which are quite cheap. When the bag is full we tie it up and transfer it to the large caddy which is kept in the garage. The food waste is collected weekly and there is usually a small amount of liquid at the bottom of both caddies but I wash it away with soapy water with bleach added. I can honestly say there is never a smell in the house.

The caddys have lids. I don't understand how insects get in or why there would be a smell.

We are vegetarian so no meat or fish smells.
All our peelings etc go to the compost bins.
Almost no cooked - food waste. Unfortunately that has to go in the black bin here now.
I don't want it in the compost to attract rats. My daughter has a "hot bin" thingy compost system and she can put anything in it....

I keep my caddy outside my front door under a bush. We must use compostable liners or they will not be emptied. I use the liner indoors and loosely knot it when not in use.

My council is like ferry's and the other bins are inspected before emptied. We have never had bags supplied. I use mine until it is full because they are expensive. I have never had a problem but my waste is usually orange or vegetable peelings.

Our council used to supply the compostable waste food bags, but as with most things, that has gone by the board. We use plastic bread bags, or the sort of cellophane bags that veg sometimes come in, eg courgettes. Otherwise, at the moment, we are able to use newspaper for wrapping.
We have very little waste.

At the risk of repeating myself what is “Ugh” about keeping food waste separate from the contents of your dustbin? Assuming other caddies are like mine, they have lids and if you don’t have an outdoor recycling bin to empty your food caddy into, can be kept in a cool place.
Back on the day when we used to put our rubbish out in black bags I would regularly see the depredations of the neighbourhood foxes, cats or crows where my next door neighbour had put food in their bin bag. Even the dog once lunged at a half devoured chicken carcass -slimy, now that really was Ugh!
Our food waste and garden waste go in a green bin, collected every week - cat-, crow , and fox-proof.
It’s time some grannies opened up their minds to the necessity of recycling, of separating waste items and ultimately of turning waste into a useful commodity.

I have a fancy 4 compartment waste bin under a kitchen cupboard. The food and can units have lids. Paper and general waste don’t need lids. I use bags in all 4. I got rid of our large compost bin after mr I died as emptying it was too much for me. So all the food waste goes in its biodegradable bag into the council green bin which also takes garden waste. It’s mostly veg peel. It doesn’t smell, and I’m happy to have recycling done by the council

RosiesMaw 👍🏻

Our system here is the same as Jane43 has described.
I buy kitchen caddy biodegradable bags from Sainsbury’s or Waitrose and they work fine. The bags, once tied up are put in the larger food caddy which lives in the garage, and is emptied by the bin men weekly.

There is generally just vegetable and fruit waste in the kitchen one plus tea bags which I squeeze out before putting them in the caddy.

Even in very hot weather it never smells as I make a point of emptying it very frequently.

Also as Jane has said, the outdoor one is sealed shut when the handle is upright.

Our council provided both some years ago, free of charge and there is no charge for emptying it.

I must admit though, I initially hated the thought and vowed that I would never use it !

I clearly must have a very acute sense of smell!

It's not like I'm throwing fish heads or similar into mine. Just normal veg peelings, tea bags and the odd meat bone. But I can definitely smell it, and I am forever emptying it, disinfecting it and putting in a new bag.

We get nothing for free from our local authority. When I moved in here a few months back, two of the bins were missing. It cost me a little over £200 for 2 replacement bins and the fortnightly garden waste collection annual fee.

I found a very nice, cream enamel one in Lakeland for a dd.

Mine is just the brown plastic job supplied by the council. I probably empty it twice a week, and wash it out. But it’s never smelly or disgusting. That may be because any scraps of meat or fish go in a bag in the freezer until the night before the bin men come.

I don’t get much food waste but what I do gets flung in a bowl by the sink, then at the end of the day I toss it into a large margarine tub that lives in the freezer. No smells. When that is full it goes out for the bin men.

Until the council deal with the ongoing mice and creepy crawlies in the block, then I'm more likely to fly to the moon than add to the issue.

That sounds grim MissA - imo useless with house mice and would have to move out if ratty ever moved in. As for creepy crawlers - can ‘they’ not take residents out for a day and spray the building with something toxic. I know, it’s wicked to think like this but…….

Our council is poor with recycling, but even so, it pats itself on the back and declares how good it is. There is absolutely no provision for waste food recycling at all. Nothing provided and apparently nothing expected. We are instructed to put food waste in the bin for none recyclables. We have two bins, one is for plastics, paper, tins, and card. Many plastics cannot be put in the bins; no yoghurt pots, no margarine pots, no tetra cartons. Then there is a small container for glass, which we must take ourselves to the glass recycling centre. Good luck with that if you can’t lift a heavy box of glasses, or you don’t have a car. There is a garden recycling facility if you pay a yearly amount for it; otherwise you can take it to the tip in your car.

Iam64

That sounds grim MissA - imo useless with house mice and would have to move out if ratty ever moved in. As for creepy crawlers - can ‘they’ not take residents out for a day and spray the building with something toxic. I know, it’s wicked to think like this but…….

We have earwigs in the brickwork of the building, cemented in under the entrance door.
Evey year, out they all come, along with maggots and flies.

The council inform us they are under no obligation, as these are not "pests".

Ours is good or as good as we can expect given we were given less than Knightsbridge and Kensington.
We have a grey bin for non recycling goods which is collected alternate weeks. A green bin for food waste and garden waste , a red bin for plastic and glass collected alternate weeks.
The cream bin for paper and cardboard used to be fortnightly but has been reduced to monthly. Much outrage as so many of us shop on line we have more not less cardboard. I bought a new radio yesterday, huge amounts of cardboard package. I left it overnight in the rain - it made it possible to squash into the bin - not dripping wet just damp enough for weak me to pull apartb

It’s good that Amazon are delivering a lot of things in strong, brown, recyclable paper bags now, but the boxes they deliver in are not so good, because as Iam says they are difficult to fit in the bin. The only way is to waste time sitting cutting them up so they don’t take so much room up in the bin.