Forum Topic

Food waste

Can anyone recommend a source of biodegradable liners for the kerbside caddy?Cheers

Sarah Felstead ● 2747d29 Comments

I should have made clear that the apples that can go in the garden waste bin are supposed to be windfall ones from your own garden.I've just sent my brother a recipe to try for sour apple bhaji taken off the moneysavingexpert.com website where there is a discussion on using windfalls.  We always chop the rotten bits and holes out and visitors out and cook the rest ready to use during the winter when we are more likely to eat hot puddings.  I think I probably cut off more than is necessary as apparently the bruised bits don't matter.  We just freeze it in blocks.

Philippa Bond ● 2708d

These people are morons of the highest order and even when made to look like imbeciles just haven't got the good grace to back down and apologise for their utter stupidity. One day perhaps we will have recycling rules that are the same right across the country and then we'll all know where we stand. Rarely have I read such cobblers.

Vanessa Smith ● 2709d

Apples can of course also be classed as Garden Waste as per the LBH website.But also read this:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6060891/Binmen-refuse-to-empty-wheelie-bin-containing-apples.htmlWhere is the common sense?

Philippa Bond ● 2709d

They were plainly never in the Garden of Eden, or Sainsbury's fruit and veg department!.

Jennifer Selig ● 2709d

After how many years of Hounslow’s recycling scheme, an executive decision has been made that rotting apples can be classified as food waste.Words fail me with these people.

Robin Dickers ● 2710d

Great, thank you Guy.

Sarah Felstead ● 2711d

I talked to recycling people at the combined services day in Lampton Park yesterday. They should have taken your windfalls. Will get the local officer to follow up.

Guy Lambert ● 2711d

Cllr Lambert is on the case.Need to know what to do with apples - always thought of these as a food product!  I understand It is cheaper to recycle food than household but had I taken them to the tip they would have gone in household.  This year the old apple trees have been in a sorry state.  We have 2 very old trees, one has had to come out and the other, the bramley, has only just started shedding windfalls that could be used.  The quality this year is very poor and not a normal sized crop either.

Sarah Felstead ● 2711d

Walking home the other day I was happy to find I could pick a Bramley type apple from a basket attached to the front railing in a neighbouring street.  Together with a home grown eating one I used it to make a mashed and sliced apple topping for some pork chops (Gary Rhodes recipe)!  Yum. I cut the wormholes and core (and any grubs if still there out) and put that in the Food Waste Bin. Any of the bruised apples that on second examination are too bruised and can't be eaten go from the rack into the Food Waste Bin too.

Philippa Bond ● 2713d

Seems the collectors don't recognise apples and pears - perhaps they've never seen fresh fruit.  Next time try putting a big label on top saying "These are bruised/rotting apples, which is FOOD WASTE.  Please take."

Jennifer Selig ● 2713d

It happened again this week ...food waste container left with the lid open, so they didn’t miss it this time, and my food waste topped with windfalls .... rejected!I wrapped the whole lot up and put it household wheelie so it didn’t mean a trip to the tip.Why can’t windfalls be put in the food waste bin?  Anyone know?

Sarah Felstead ● 2713d

As someone who has spent years living with an orchard there are always fruit drops during the year and efforts to find ways to best deal with the fruit.I understand that the collectors are now calling your non-collection an oversight.  I don't know what they have been instructed but that FWB does not look like one that a squeamish collector would turn his or her nose up at!I received some interesting info with a newsletter from River Cottage this week about this campaign:http://www.thepigidea.org/the-problem.html#the-argumentsThere is also this opposing view:http://www.npa-uk.org.uk/Do_not_feed_food_waste_to_pigs-campaign_stepped_up.htmlI remember my Grandad bringing back buckets of food waste from a canteen to feed chickens in the 50s/60s. There is no doubt that there have been problems but you would think that there could be a solution with regard to windfalls.

Philippa Bond ● 2735d

Posting for Sarah

BrentfordTW8 Editor ● 2741d

Apologetic person from bin dept popped over this morning.  He is going to check the next couple of pickups and gave my son a couple of packs of kitchen caddy liners.  Looks like it was just missed.  Phew, ;). Thanks Cllr Guy.

Sarah Felstead ● 2744d

Sarah - hope it all goes well.  :)

Philippa Bond ● 2744d

Thanks Guy.  ;)

Sarah Felstead ● 2744d

I can never remember what size bin bags for all the different sizes of bins at parents' homes etc. It drives me mad the way that the bins don't have the capacity written in easy to read print on the bottom!

Philippa Bond ● 2744d

SarahI asked about your missed collection and I believe it was just that - an error by the crew. Your local officer will check the collection tomorrow and ensure all's well. Sorry about that (I think he may award you some bags to compensate for your troubles)

Guy Lambert ● 2744d

Previously complaints were ignored so the bins ended up being collected the following week anyway.  I sent Cllr Guy a photo to ask about the windfalls as this may become a problem for everyone in the same situation.  The bin was with the others at the front of the driveway and it is possible was just missed.  I couldn’t leave the bin another day while complaints were discussed in that heat so took it to the tip.  I have 2 bins which are both going out this week.  Ordering the extra bin was simple on line.

Sarah Felstead ● 2744d

Complain, complain, complain - that your food waste was not collected!  Don't be cowed into buying bags when it is not necessary - and as you say it was only the windfalls on the top which were unwrapped.Perhaps the collectors missed it - it does happen.  I decided to change the side of the steps that I leave mine on to make it more visible since the collectors travel from left to right past the building and they are less likely to miss it when it is on the right at the bottom of the steps (not on the pavement).Maybe the collectors need more instruction - question and suggest this to your Councillors.Yes, it would be a good idea if there was a food waste bin at the Household Reuse & Recycling Centre.Or why not order another bin so that you have a spare. the great thing is that the Food Waste Bins are collected weekly.(I did know that you had tried different things in the past but remember that it can sometimes be a good idea to revisit.)

Philippa Bond ● 2744d

Found the bags in Tesco, thanks.  I was surprised at how expensive they are.  I don’t want to have to use bags for the food waste, I would prefer to put shredded paper in the bottom and throw the food on the top.  Having to wrap windfalls is plain stupid, if that is why the caddy wasn’t taken.  The apples being put in the box are too small to fiddle around with.  They are cookers so the birds aren’t interested.  I don’t want to dig them into the ground and we tried a composter and it didn’t work, ending up with our first sightings of rats.  I am happy the compost bins recycle the food.  If the bin is not collected as a food waste collection there is no food recycling bin at the tip so it goes into the household mix, where I think it is burnt.  What a palaver.

Sarah Felstead ● 2744d

I buy mine from M&S. They're a little more expensive but really strong, unlike some which start falling apart during the week. The ones the Council issued last year were next-to useless, starting to disintegrate after a couple of days.

Susan Kelly ● 2746d

and you can line your bins with newspaper or the shredded paper from your shredder which helps the bins to empty when tipped.  You do NOT have to buy bags to use!In other countries where the weather is always hotter many people freeze any likely to be smelly food waste until collection day/night before.

Philippa Bond ● 2746d

They are much cheaper to buy online.

Vanessa Smith ● 2746d

Tesco have the larger biodegradable bags too. We got them by mistake but found they are really useful.

Pat Kingham ● 2746d

Roadside food caddy bags are or certainly were available from both Waitrose and Sainsbury's.  I chuck in a handful of shredded paper into the bottom of the bag to soak up any grease or moisture.

Jennifer Selig ● 2747d

Who has told you that you have to use a bag in your caddy?Generally they are issued/suggested to encourage people who otherwise wouldn't contemplate recycling their food waste.Sarah, have another read of the instructions!https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20128/household_recycling_and_waste_collections/1602/food_waste_recyclingIn this hot weather the bag can make it pleasanter for everyone - user and collector - particularly if there is fish or meat waste and mouldy bread.It is ridiculous to be bagging windfall apples - and it would be better if you could find some other way to dispose of them eg finding someone with an animal that eats them or digging them into the ground/putting them into a compost bin to make your own compost. The birds - especially blackbirds love them.Keeping your food waste bin out of the sun when you can also makes it pleasanter to empty as it will be less attractive to pests.  So does putting a net over your fruit bowl to keep fruit flies off your fruit.Sarah I believe that the problem is with the Collectors and not with you. Report it to your Councillors and question the training of the Collectors and next time report it as a missed collection. 

Philippa Bond ● 2747d

Thanks, Christopher.  I too use the kitchen caddy bags but this week my food waste bin was not collected.  The bin was clean ( I take off the critters resident under the rim and repatriate them, then take the top shelf out of the dishwasher and put it on a quick wash.  A swill of the bottom with a light bleach does the inside that the dishwasher can’t reach); the food was all wrapped and then I topped the food with windfall Bramley apples, which last year went loose in the bin.  If we are now required to wrap the windfalls I will need the kerbside caddy liners.  Plain daft to wrap windfall apples. Because of the weather I had to take the whole bin to the tip where it was mixed in with the household waste.

Sarah Felstead ● 2747d

Tesco do them for the kitchen caddy, and I fill my kerbside caddy with a 2-3 of these every week, which works well for me, but I have not seen a kerbside caddy sized.

Christopher Gillie ● 2747d