Vocal Voices

Mr Seven Bins is to scrap the utterly stupid seven bins idea because it won't work. Millions of people who live in flats, terraced housing and houses with tiny gardens and only on-street parking could have told him that in an instant.

So, what are we to get instead?

The latest is that every household will get a separate food waste bin to be emptied every week. Why? How big will it be?

Millions of us do not need them emptied weekly. How big will they be - black bin sized or a Tupperware container? I am one person in a four flat complex, we are all singles. We take it in turns to take out the huge bins - green and black - and they are never more than 1/4 full every two weeks. With food waste a small bucket would do for all of us.

How about a bucket insert we can hook into the bins so that when they get emptied the food waste is separated?

It was done in RAFG quarters in the 70s when I was there.

A food waste bin. I can think of some areas near me where the rats will be very happy at this news.

We have had these food waste bins for a while, I hate them. They smell in summer

I dont get why more houses dont have waste disposal units and why they dont build more houses with them

We have a small food waste caddy under the kitchen sink which we line with compostible bags and those bags then go into a small Dorset County food waste bin which is collected every week. It's only about 18" high, nothing like a full size bin, with a click-lock style carrying handle. The DCC wagon that collects it is an electric vehicle, like a normal bin lorry, but half the size.

You could probably get 3 or 4 full compostible bags into that food waste bin, but as there's only the two of us, we usually get through just one or two a week. It's mainly vegetable peelings from our weekly "vat of soup" preparation, banana skins, or (I'm on a binge at the moment) pistachio nut shells .....

Sounds much the same as ours Ossie. The small one indoors is always lined with a compostable bag and everything put into is is also in a compostable bag. Overkill perhaps, but it's the only way I can deal with it, definitely no smell. The small bin is emptied 2-3 times a week into the bin outside, again like yours Ossie. It's mainly veg peelings, banana skins, that sort of thing. It's collected every week so rarely full.

jenniren wrote:Sounds much the same as ours Ossie. The small one indoors is always lined with a compostable bag and everything put into is is also in a compostable bag. Overkill perhaps, but it's the only way I can deal with it, definitely no smell. The small bin is emptied 2-3 times a week into the bin outside, again like yours Ossie. It's mainly veg peelings, banana skins, that sort of thing. It's collected every week so rarely full.

Because we also recycle our daily coffee grinds through the caddy, the smell is often quite aromatic!!

I put things like that in our brown garden bin

Any ‘food’ waste goes down the waste disposal

miasmum wrote:We have had these food waste bins for a while, I hate them. They smell in summer

Same here. I don’t use ours, but then we don’t have much food waste. What we do have goes into our household waste. D uses hers, it’s a real palaver as it needs to be lined with a plastic bag or stinks to high heaven - what’s green about that? I do put veg peel in the garden waste bin.

Kaz wrote:

miasmum wrote:We have had these food waste bins for a while, I hate them. They smell in summer

Same here. I don’t use ours, but then we don’t have much food waste. What we do have goes into our household waste. D uses hers, it’s a real palaver as it needs to be lined with a plastic bag or stinks to high heaven - what’s green about that? I do put veg peel in the garden waste bin.

this is what I dont understand about people not having waste disposal units. We had one way back in 1985 just after we got our first house, have never been without one since. When I have to put food in the bin, like at Lukes or when we are on holiday, it turns my stomach.

Kaz wrote:Same here. I don’t use ours, but then we don’t have much food waste. What we do have goes into our household waste. D uses hers, it’s a real palaver as it needs to be lined with a plastic bag or stinks to high heaven - what’s green about that? I do put veg peel in the garden waste bin.

Exactly; and some people won't use plastic bags and so the bins will stink, and attract vermin. It's one of those ideas that sound good but in practice will cause problems.