Food Waste Caddy and Bin - OK? or Not?

tvbox

Our neighbours had sometimes taken my bin in for me so I decided to do so for them the other week, it was the brown one but it felt a little heavy so peeped inside and the bottom was just blue and furry. Must've lost the liners tag.

kevykat

We now refuse to recycle along with the other 9 flats in the building in aberdeen. The majority of us would recycle every fortnight. But since the council told us we can't store our small black box and sac for fire reasons in the communal hallway they have given us no alternative either. We don't have room to store it in our flat plus i don't want to be storing 2 weeks of rubbish, not very savory.
The bins were moved into the communal bin store out the way and there's physically no room for 10 boxes and bags on the ground.
They said it was a hazard in the hall, its now an even bigger hazard. A major trip hazard and if there's 2 weeks worth of 10 flats dry waste this is a major fire hazard.
I told the council folk we weren't recycling and suggested give us proper segregated bins for individual flats or have proper bins in the bin store. The reply i got was if no one is recycling we will just take back the boxes and bags.
Really good attitude by the council, willing to recycle and suggested a better method but no we wont bother. Called waste aware and they are sending someone out to assess what improvements can be made.

Good old council. Bloody pathetic.

Liquid101

Over the last year we've got used to the multiple bins.

We line the small caddy with the compost able bags, which is then removed and transferred to the large bin outside when full. They seem to last the week until collection OK

Pretty much everything else goes int he recycling bag - only used kitchen roll goes in the black bin.

Of course - the whole thing is pointless. I've seen the bin men empty every bag into the same wagon on multiple occasions. If it wasn't for the fact that they only collect black bag waste every 2 weeks I wouldn't bother.

Grangey.

We generally use 3 bins- the food one more as we feel like it, and im sure we put things in the black that we shouldnt but i suppose its better than we did before!

AdrianMills

Here in Norway (at least this part and I think this is fairly standard) we have 2 outside "bins" - more like cupboards with doors actually.

One is for general non-recyclable waste which takes a normal black large bin liner that can be opened at the top as well as the front, and that is collected every fortnight. You can ask for it to be taken every week for an additional charge.

The the other cabinet has four small bins inside; 2 for paper (collected every fortnight), 1 for milk/juice cartons (not sure when it's collected as we don't use these types of cartons), and 1 for biodegradable waste (collected every week and is used for fertilizer).

The recycling cabinet is "free" but the other cabinet costs about £200. We get "given" the biodegradable bags (two large rolls every 6 months I think), black bin liners (one every collection), and a roll of clear bags the size of black bin liners which are to be used for recyclable plastic and that's collected every month I think.

Glass, wood, metal, electronics, large boxes and anything else that doesn't fit into the usual bins have to be taken to the rubbish dump and that costs about £5 entry unless it's just garden waste or just boxes, then it's free. Batteries and bulbs can be dropped into recycling boxes at supermarkets. Oh, and we get money for recyclable soda bottles and cans in machines at supermarkets too.

We've bought four bins for under our sink (plastic, paper, food waste and everything else) which we empty when they are full. We have a little "caddy" with ventilation holes that the bio-bags fit properly and that sits in one of the large bins which we take out every day or two.

The system works well and it's no hassle to sort the rubbish as it's just a matter of placing the stuff into the appropriate bin. I'm annoyed that the rubbish dump costs so damn much though - we did a massive clean out before we moved recently and we must have spent £25 at least on trips there.

**I say "given" and "free" above as this is of course factored into the "council tax" we pay every so often so it's not as free as it seems.

zed4

That does seem crazy! I don’t have any bins. We have to use bin bags. You reminded me, I forgot to put them out this morning! Doh!

Begonia

This 're-cycling' fiasco does not correlate with all the packaging that supermarkets and other stores are insisting they sell us with the goods we buy.

I'm sure you know the sort of thing I mean? eg

Buy a screwdriver - it comes in a polycarbonate bubble, which is glued to a cardboard back.
Buy a toothbrush - it comes in a polycarbonate bubble, which is glued to a cardboard back.
Buy apples - they come on a polystyrene '4 dents for 4 apples shaped tray', which is covered with a polycarbonate dome.

Now our council officials are telling us we have to re-cycle to cut down on landfill waste and avoid being fined by the EU.

This is utter ********e, IMHO.

Blatantly, there isn't a governmental or political will to legislate to cut down on this sort of waste.

Retailing seems to be all about 'pop it into a container' so that it can be poked onto a protruding "U-strip with an Item Price Label" onto a Universal System of horizontally slotted display walling panels in the stores.

Well, this is OK for retailers but the required packaging drives up prices for the extra transportation required, the end product price to the buyer and it creates waste that needs dealing with for consumers and localk councils.

There just has to be a better way!

johntheexpat

Here's the French answer:

BBC News - French village Pince to hand out chickens to cut waste

Oh yeah, over in the UK, you all love foxes.  Which means you have to have airtight solidly built waste food recycling boxes, or Fort Knox type security for your chucks.  So thats a non starter than.

Begonia

Just across from my back yard there is a lake.

Lake = mallards, coots and moorhens. These guys get all our stale bread. They get the neighbours' stale bread too.

And yet my neighbours would not take kindly to me keeping ducks or chickens. Funny or wot?

SBT

We recieved a letter today.
Red recycling box- paper and card.
Green recycling box-cans and plastic.
Food.Two containers for food waste,a small caddy for the kitchen and a food bin to keep outside.
Refuse-black bags.

I would like to thank the council for the work they are offering me,i wonder how much the pay is?