I have found a lot of people are adverse to using their food waste bin for various reasons. However separating your food waste and garden waste for that matter will greatly improve your carbon footprint and reduce your environmental impact. I would even say it is one of the top things you can do to become more sustainable.

So why is it a good thing to use my food waste bin?

All biodegradeable waste going into your general waste bin is not good. If your waste goes to a landfill, which in the UK at the moment is most likely then the biodegradable waste is responsible for the Methane being produced by our landfills. Methane is 28 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The food waste, green waste and paper your put in your general waste bin is contributing this, so it is important we remove these from our general waste bins. Some councils are generous enough to provide you with a bin to collect these waste streams, and you should use these as much as possible to help reduce your environmental impact.

What happens to the food waste collected?

When your food waste is collected it will either go to:

  • A great big composting unit where it reaches high temperatures to kill off the bugs and in gets turned into compost or
  • It goes to an anaerobic digester, which turns it into biogas, which can be used as a green fuel.

Are there alternatives to a food waste bin?

Unfortunately not everyone has access to a food waste collection service. or just don’t like the idea of a bin full of food. Alternatives include:

  • Using a compost bin. This not only deals with your food waste, but can provide you with free compost for your garden – great for the green fingered out there.
  • Use a waste disposer. This is a device you add to your sink which shreds your food waste and it goes down your sink and the waste water is treated like any other. This is great for those that really don’t like dealing with the food waste bin but still want to reduce their environmental impact.

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