Do you have a food waste bin?

We have a food waste service, but the only food I ever put into the bin was chicken bones. We compost all fruit and veg peelings, and scraps of meat went to the dogs. We’ve now turned vegetarian (sorry dogs!) so don’t use the food waste bin at all.

In addition to freezing bread which I do, (I cut up a large loaf and defrost as needed), if you have sliced bread you can also toast slices from frozen. I rarely throw away any food and we do have a food waste collection. I lived in a flat for a year which in theory the Council did not provide food waste collection service for, however I used to leave the bin on the pavement on collection day and it was always emptied, if your block of flats is in a street that also has houses the chances are that the bin men will empty your bin.

I have had a food waste bin in the kitchen every since Edinburgh Council introduced on-street food waste wheelie bins in tenement areas. We don’t have a collection problem in my street, I have never seen the food waste bins full to the brim. This could be in part thanks to an efficient collecting service but also because not everyone in the street recycles food waste.

Yes, we have a food waste bin, about that size, but it collects for the compost (Hotbin). Our council one is used for bones only (and we should really burn these and spread the ash.)

We don’t throw away any edible food, only stalks, skins, bones, etc. Our council (Basildon) provide compostable liners for the small caddies they supply, and they collect a food-and garden-waste wheelie-bin every week. As for bread, we keep wrapped loaves in the freezer and only take out a couple of slices at a time, as needed. It stays completely fresh for more than a week if necessary, and the slices only take 5 or 10 minutes to “defrost”.

We recently moved from the Mole Valley Area of Surrey, just about everything was recycled we had three very large wheelie bins that were emptied on rotation and one food waste bin emptied weekly an excellent service. We are now in Newark Notts and the recycling is in the dark ages they have a very long list of what you cannot recycle and a short list of what you can there is no facility for food waste, glass and all manor of other items have to be taken by car to a recycling centre at the local co-op goodness knows how much of what we have ends up in landfill, previously when we were in Mole Valley I doubt we would half fill our wheelie bin of non recyclables in a 2 week cycle. Now it is full to bursting each 2 week period. Sad

In Dorset we have a weekly collection of food waste. The bin has a locking handle, which is plastic, and does not deter the foxes. Either you have to put it out after daylight or put a pole in the ground about 6ft high, and hang it on a hook. When empty, it is usually blown down the street, in one case into the middle of the T junction at the end of the road. I went to Lille in about 1980 and they had little bins which slotted into the top of the wheelie bins, avoiding both the above problems.
Because we compost all vegetable matter (uncooked), we only put out about a handful of waste food per week. Unless we have visiting grandchildren, who take food and then leave half of it.