Food waste caddy - ugh!

RosiesMaw 👍🏻

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

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.

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.

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.

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....

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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).

Our caddy bags are free, I always fold a couple of sheets of kitchen roll in the bottom of mine to soak up any liquid. Our caddy locks shut so doesn’t smell or attract flies.

They are pretty grim objects, aren't they?
I have had maggots in mine - yuck.

I refuse to use them too. Food waste, never much of it, goes into under-sink pedal bin usually emptied daily. Firmly tied bin liners go into general rubbish. I don't know the ultimate destination of food waste put out in caddies.

Disgusting, attracting flies, ok if you have a compost bin, otherwise needs to be collected daily, and that's never going to happen.

I should have said I don’t eat meat or fish so no bones or skin or anything

I have an outside tub with a lid and all uncooked food plus peelings etc go in there
The rest I eat I don’t cook anything I don’t eat or put in the freezer

Best way to deal with cat food waste is to put it in its own plastic container in the freezer and simply wrap it and put it out on the day the bins are emptied. However cat food waste is currently a bit of an unknown concept in this household, rather like the idea of leftover wine.
Litter tray solids (ie poo )get flushed down the lavatory and the wood based litter goes in my hotbins which are currently at around 60C

eazybee

The worst thing here is uneaten cat food. My two 19 year-old cats are increasingly picky and leave food which yesterday was wolfed down; I wrap it in paper but it still smells in the caddy, under the sink, to be put out separately for waste collection once a week. They have all sorts of varieties, but the food that is wasted is awful, and smelly.

I have this problem too, so I put it into the biodegradable poo bags that I use for cat litter scoopings. They can be knotted tightly and put in the wheely bin for landfill. Probably naughty but not that different from poo, which does need to go in landfill! I have in the past flushed the cat food waste down the loo, but unsure whether that is sensible.

eazybee - can you put the uneaten cat food outside for birds, hedgehogs or foxes? Hopefully not other unwanted visitors! We do that and robins seem to love it, also magpies and crows. I agree that cat food can smell pretty bad.

I too have the one ixion has shown. I fill it really quickly and then just empty it out on the compost heap. At this time of the year it does attract small flies but they seem to stay inside the box.
It’s a mystery to me how they get in there. I open it, they fly out then I close it and they soon return to their safe haven. I don’t use bags. Just wash the inner container when I empty it.