New County Clean food bins

mcko

Hi All,
Got a new food caddy and its full of maggots and covered blue bottles, I put the food waste into the bags provided.It seems like a health risk to be honest, anyone else seeing this.

Golfer50

mcko wrote: »

Hi All,
Got a new food caddy and its full of maggots and covered blue bottles, I put the food waste into the bags provided.It seems like a health risk to be honest, anyone else seeing this.

Totally agree. We used it for the first month and then noticed that only a tiny fraction of the neighbours were using them so we joined the boycott! From what I understand, if you were to use the food bin properly you would need a much larger and secure (pong!) foodbin and a tiny general bin. My garden is starting to look like a bin park. General, Recycling, Glass, Food, Old Council bin. I long for less pc times . . . .

TheChizler

Did you have to request these? I've seen them round the place but heard nothing and we're country clean.

Lando Griffin

A good tip for food waste is never throw cooked food in a bin.
Instead freeze it until the morning of the waste collection.

Golfer50

TheChizler wrote: »

Did you have to request these?

They are being distributed region by region I believe. We got ours a few months back. I contacted Country Clean because I thought it was a joke to be honest. I was told that regulations demanded these food bins but if everyone hasn't got them yet, how can they be imposed on some?
The problem is that the bins are flimsy and very smelly, especially with the hot weather.
Freezing food waste?????????:eek::D

TheChizler

Golfer50 wrote: »

They are being distributed region by region I believe.

The ones I saw were just up the street from us. Odd. No use for them anyway, everything either goes down the sink waste disposal or in the compost bin.

pow wow

My parents have one and it's a bit smelly but not infested by any crawlies. The paper bags are the worst part, biodegradeable plastic would have been much better. That's what I have with my own food waste bin and it cuts down on the smell quite substantially.

Rubeter

Lando Griffin wrote: »

A good tip for food waste is never throw cooked food in a bin.
Instead freeze it until the morning of the waste collection.

People look at me like I've suggested freezing their newborn baby when I tell them what a handy thing doing that is, they would take the bit of left over sauce from the pot and freeze it no prob, but the scrapings off the plate seem to be right out, not logical captain.
I have an old cooler box in the freezer for it.

scudo2

Lando Griffin wrote: »

A good tip for food waste is never throw cooked food in a bin.
Instead freeze it until the morning of the waste collection.

What take away do you run ?

Xantia

scudo2 wrote: »

What take away do you run ?

:pac:

butbut

Yeah I have it and the flies and maggots are insane. Two weeks is two long to have rotting food waste in a bin, it was fine in the black bin when it was wrapped in plastic but these brown bags or wrapping in newspaper is a disaster. Unfortunately i'm in a rented house so I cant put in a proper food composter as these need to be semi buried so as not to attract rats but I'm guessing these new food caddies are going to do that anyway.

Addmagnet

Lando Griffin wrote: »

...
Instead freeze it until the morning of the waste collection.

Not everyone has a freezer.

Missyelliot2

I'm with Greenstar, but will be in the brown bin zone before long.
The brown bin has been in operation in Galway (where I'm from) for years! We don't have a glass collection there - to be honest, going to the bottle bank is ok for me, but for older folk, who may not have a car, it must be a bit stressful.

Also - just came back from US and spent $40 filling a people carrier and my focus costs me €70 ........feeling my recycling efforts re brown bin are a whole heap of organic s&@£;!

john_doe.

I still don't see greenstar and wiser with these. Why are country clean the only ones operating this if it is a regulatory requirement?

Mines not been collected for the second time since I got it. Put my bins slightly behind the wall during the storm. Foolish to think the collection service may walk extra two feet to get them. The first time they just "forgot" and I was left with rotting bin for 4 weeks.

I understand the need for these from an environmental aspect but we are so far off on a global scale its literally a drop in the ocean.

I had convinced my other half to use this stinking bin as they do benefit the environment and then we went out on thursday night in cork. All the bins near hillbilly's overflowing, rubbish everywhere doubt this is recycled.

Until this is made compulsory on a national level and is actually implemented I think its a waste of time...

leahyl

We have one of these and it's a curse to be quite honest but we don't have a problem with maggots or other creepy things thank god. It's just very smelly and inconvenient.

We have 2 brown bins though - one small one which we keep in the press under the sink and then a bigger one which is in the garage.

Those brown bags - do you have to purchase them or are they given free of charge? My dad has been using other brown bags cos he ran out of the ones they supplied and said you have to pay for more? This seems ridiculous

ABajaninCork

We have food waste buckets in the UK which are emptied on a weekly basis with no problems.

How often are the bins emptied? If it's every other week like the bins, then forget it!! It's a bloody health hazard, especially in the summer. It's bad enough putting out the bins on a fortnightly basis...

pow wow

leahyl wrote: »

Those brown bags - do you have to purchase them or are they given free of charge? My dad has been using other brown bags cos he ran out of the ones they supplied and said you have to pay for more? This seems ridiculous

You have to buy them, my parents had to order some more and it was something like 20 or 25 euro for 100 bags. Tesco also do similar ones on a roll for about 2 euro but I can't remember how many you actually get for that.

The bin is emptied every other week. Whoever thought flimsy paper bags were the best option for damp decomposing food waste needs their head seeing to - every other brown bin I've encountered in my life had biodegradeable plastic bags and was so much better.

aujopimur

TheChizler wrote: »

The ones I saw were just up the street from us. Odd. No use for them anyway, everything either goes down the sink waste disposal or in the compost bin.[/QUOT

Waste disposal units are to be outlawed by the EU.

TheChizler

aujopimur wrote: »

Waste disposal units are to be outlawed by the EU.

Any link to this? In any kind of modern waste treatment plant they should be beneficial to the process.

cantdecide

The clear bags with the brown writing for mixed dry recycling? You can actually buy those individually or in small quantities from one or two outlets. Centra on Oliver Plunkett street sell 5 for €4.99.

john_doe.

The brown bags are a disaster. Anyone else beside country clean using these ?

Roger Hassenforder

TheChizler wrote: »

Any link to this? In any kind of modern waste treatment plant they should be beneficial to the process.

they're already banned for commercial premises, the food waste is overloading already overloaded wastewater treatment plants, and fatty food waste is difficult to treat.

According to some EU bull**** directive, we've to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill, this is one of the means of achieving the target. Apparently.

pow wow

john_doe. wrote: »

The brown bags are a disaster. Anyone else beside country clean using these ?

Not that i've seen, no.

pwurple

We have country clean in the city and don't have the brown bin at all.

SpaceTime

My relatives in France had such a big problem with flies in their brown bin that they put a cheap fridge into the shed and keep it inside the fridge!!

They've much hotter summers though!

TheChizler

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

they're already banned for commercial premises, the food waste is overloading already overloaded wastewater treatment plants, and fatty food waste is difficult to treat.

According to some EU bull**** directive, we've to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill, this is one of the means of achieving the target. Apparently.

As far as I'm aware they're banned in commercial premises' (in Dublin) because kitchen staff had a tendency to pour oil down them. Isn't biodegradable waste generally recovered from modern treatment plants and recycled somehow? I'd like to read the directive if you can remember what it was called.

SpaceTime

They're banned because a lot of sewer systems can't handle the volume of food waste they produce.

They also don't want huge volumes of nutrient and fat rich food waste getting sent into sewage treatment facilities. It causes serious issues.

Also you can't just install a disposal into a typical Irish kitchen sink as they drain into a gully trap (drain) rather than having a direct connection into a sewer line as is the norm in the USA.

Those gullies can clog or leave food waste sitting on the top of the drain screen in your yard!

angeline

I was posting about these bins in the wrong thread. I just received my brown bin from Country Clean last week. Have not used it yet. 20 brown bags inside. Has anyone used them yet? Worried about food sitting in them for two weeks in the Summer.

Missyelliot2

SpaceTime wrote: »

They're banned because a lot of sewer systems can't handle the volume of food waste they produce.

They also don't want huge volumes of nutrient and fat rich food waste getting sent into sewage treatment facilities. It causes serious issues.

Also you can't just install a disposal into a typical Irish kitchen sink as they drain into a gully trap (drain) rather than having a direct connection into a sewer line as is the norm in the USA.

Those gullies can clog or leave food waste sitting on the top of the drain screen in your yard!

We have one...but it is connected to the sewer.

Roger Hassenforder

TheChizler wrote: »

As far as I'm aware they're banned in commercial premises' (in Dublin) because kitchen staff had a tendency to pour oil down them. Isn't biodegradable waste generally recovered from modern treatment plants and recycled somehow? I'd like to read the directive if you can remember what it was called.

not really in conventional treatment plants.
Have a look here, cant remember the page number, re food waste. Apparently, local authority staff will be checking the bins eventually. Good luck with that!
http://sustainability-ireland.com/magazine.php

Grim_Wreeper

We've had them since before Christmas (Country Clean).
I can see that most people aren't actually using them. On the days when they're expected to be collected, which is the same day the general waste is collected, only about 1/5 of the houses in my estate have the little brown bin left out with the general bin.

Paper bags. What a joke.

angeline

Yeah the same where I live. Only saw two houses with the brown bins out, the rest of us just had the domestic bin out.

aknitter

We had the brown bin when I lived in Ennis and it was a balls in the summer with the flies and maggots ( I had maggots with a holy passion) and I used to pour a bit of bleach in the bin and that kept the flies down.

We used any brown bags we had in the house, the ones the company sold were a rip off.

Bone

We tried using the biodegradable food caddy bags from Tesco and they rejected our brown bin.


I hate the brown bin as it gets disgusting.

Ludo

Has the truck a divider? I know some of the greenstar ones used to. Left side was rubbish and right side recycling or something. Looked odd to see them dumping it all into the one truck but it was divided internally to seperate them.

Milly33

they are a pain in the arse so they are, sick of looking at the bin inside. I am all for recycling but I just don't understand the food bin.. Have to keep the mini one inside as im afraid it would attract rats outside and tis just another thing lying around the house

Bone

Ludo wrote: »

Has the truck a divider? I know some of the greenstar ones used to. Left side was rubbish and right side recycling or something. Looked odd to see them dumping it all into the one truck but it was divided internally to seperate them.

I'm not sure if the truck had a divider. I'll have to keep a eye on it the next time there is a collection ( 2 weeks) or maybe country clean will reply to my email and correct me. ( they replied and it did have a divider see below)

the worst thing is having to clean out these brown bins as they have no liner and they don't get emptied properly . there is always some stuff in the bottom.

I think two weeks is way to long to be keeping food in a bin like this. When the weather gets warm again and the flys come back this will be a nightmare. is it done the same way in other countries?

It seems like a lot of people just aren't using them.

ABajaninCork

In the UK, the slop buckets are taken on a weekly basis. Certainly they are in the area where I lived.

Bone

Bone wrote: »

I'm not sure if the truck had a divider. I'll have to keep a eye on it the next time there is a collection ( 2 weeks) or maybe country clean will reply to my email and correct me.

the worst thing is having to clean out these brown bins as they have no liner and they don't get emptied properly . there is always some stuff in the bottom.

I think two weeks is way to long to be keeping food in a bin like this. When the weather gets warm again and the flys come back this will be a nightmare. is it done the same way in other countries?

It seems like a lot of people just aren't using them.

I got the following from back from country clean. Looks like i got the cart before the horse. apologies to country clean

Dear ****

Our truck is converted to take both the landfill waste and the food waste in 2 separate compartments. The food waste is collected using a pump system. Unfortunately, some customer are disposing of non-recyclable materials in the food waste bins and this causes problems with the pump. When it occurs our driver contacts the office and we ring the customer to let them know how to use their food waste bin correctly. Unfortunately, when this occurs we cannot separate the food from the landfill waste. Our choice is to collect everything from the customer in the main body of the truck or to leave the food waste behind. Leaving the food waste behind is not acceptable to the customer.



We will continue to educate our customers as best we can over the coming months to eliminate this problem completely. In general people are resistant to change and it takes time to perfect the process. It is in everyone's interest to recycle as much as possible and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.



Best regards
****
On behalf of
Country Clean Recycling

twigsirl

They should have take these brown bins every week ... if they have divider trucks for general waste, surely the same principle would apply when they collect our recycling bins, and thereby we have weekly foodwaste collections?

Where are people purchasing replacement brown bags from, there doesn't seem to be a link on Country Clean's website to purchase them?

SpaceTime

Tesco and others sell compostable plastic bin liners.

Are they acceptable to use?

pow wow

twigsirl wrote: »

Where are people purchasing replacement brown bags from, there doesn't seem to be a link on Country Clean's website to purchase them?

We had to phone to get ours.

V.W.L 11

pow wow wrote: »

We had to phone to get ours.

o the y charge for these bags does anyone know???only got a handful with our brown bin yesterday,and I can already see this is going to cause me the same problems raised in earlier posts in the thread :mad:

ABajaninCork

Got ours this week. There's a larger brown bucket and a smaller one for indoors. Can't see me using them.

I hate food waste in the house, and certainly do not want to put the bucket out to attract flies, maggots, rats and mice. At least with the grey bin, it's deep enough to eliminate the problem of pests, if not the smell.

To put out the waste bucket every fortnight especially with summer coming up, is beyond disgusting and very unhygenic.

kcb

I haven't touched it yet either in the last 6 weeks. Not sure how they can force you to use it.

V.W.L 11

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Got ours this week. There's a larger brown bucket and a smaller one for indoors. Can't see me using them.

I hate food waste in the house, and certainly do not want to put the bucket out to attract flies, maggots, rats and mice. At least with the grey bin, it's deep enough to eliminate the problem of pests, if not the smell.

To put out the waste bucket every fortnight especially with summer coming up, is beyond disgusting and very unhygenic.

Why they couldnt give a 140L food waste bin is beyond me,plenty of houses have them,those buckets will as you say cause problems.

Wyldwood

The whole concept is very badly thought through. The brown buckets need to be collected every week. The paper bags are not strong enough to hold the food waste for 2 weeks and have started to disintegrate long before that.

I have now put my bigger brown bucket in the red bottle bin to keep animals & insects away. I don't use the indoor bin and put all food scraps straight into the bigger bin outside (I keep an old colander in the utility room and all plates get scraped into that and then straight out). I do have a compost bin so fortunately don't have a huge amount of leftovers.

Missyelliot2

It will help if you can wrap the food in newspaper....it's a pain for sure!

Nash Bridges

Has anyone had their waste bin refused for not using the brown bucket or for having food waste?

We got our 2 buckets recently and don't plan on using them. 14 days of food waste rotting in a bucket during the summer seems beyond stupid to me from a hygiene perspective.

kcb

Nash Bridges wrote: »

Has anyone had their waste bin refused for not using the brown bucket or for having food waste?

Nope. It sounds to me like a box-ticking exercise.. some Euro red tape you can be sure.

aknitter

I used to line the big brown bin with big brown bags, never were rejected, but that was a different company