20. Jun, 2021

Food Waste, Kitchen caddies and kerbside collection

Most home composters will save their kitchen waste in a solid sided plastic box or a purchased kitchen caddy.  These are available with or without a filter to reduce and/or with an airtight lid. Details can be found at www.carryoncomposting.com/443725798

Ideally the caddy would be of a size that needs emptying into the compost bin every few days to avoid the material decomposing or going mouldy. These caddies are easily cleaned and are often suitable for washing in a dishwasher. Home composting is the environmentally preferable method of dealing with food waste  but if you do not have a suitable compost bin for cooked food waste and cannot treat it using a Bokashi bin using the Council food waste collection is much better than sending the waste to landfill.

However, if you are taking advantage of a Council kerbside collection system you will be required to follow their procedures and the use of a ventilated caddy with a compostable liner is increasingly becoming the method of choice.

When transporting material by road journey weight is an issue especially if it is being weighed at the end of the journey.  The weight loss by evaporation in a ventilated caddy can be as much as 30% in the few days it is waiting for collection.  Evaporation and airflow through a ventilated caddy has the additional advantage of reducing the likelihood of the material starting to decompose anaerobically and reduces the risk of unpleasant odours.  In addition, the condensate that can accumulate at the bottom of traditional closed caddies is avoided.  This system also offers the additional convenience to the householder in that the caddy will not need to be washed after each use.

 Containing the food waste in compostable bags also offers advantages across the collection, transport, and composting systems and one council has estimated that the use of compostable bags for the food waste was twice as efficient as the next best food collection scheme, which did not use bags. 

So, the advice is:

  • If possible, home compost your waste food (See www.carryoncomposting.com/ 443725798)  
  • If this is not possible take advantage of any kerbside food collection available.