kitchen waste disposal units ?

shabbyroad

thinking of getting one of these fitted when we replace our kitchen sink.

what is the environmental impact of this method of waste disposal compared to chucking it in the bin ? I'm hoping to cut down on the number of wheelie-bin pickups we do. We've already got a composter but there's still a good bit of waste that could go down a disposal unit.

If it's only going to make matters worse then I don't want to contribute to the problem but if it helps then I will.

Your input appreciated....

Victor

Where does the waster go - a bin? What are you putting in it - everything? I would suggest you still keep all you recyclables separate and still compost.

If you are conscious of the number of wheelie bins you put out (are you in a sticker area?), is there anyway to reduce the amount of waste you produce in the first place (minimise secondary packaging, cut down takeaways)? Also flatten bottles, boxes and milk cartons. Otherwise it think it's down to does chopped up rubbish take up less space than general rubbish? It will mean rubbish will degrade quicker, but at the cost in electricity and in making the unit.

Are you happy with the safety of the unit?

Typedef

what is the environmental impact of this method of waste disposal compared to chucking it in the bin

If the waste goes into some form of sceptic tank, to be collected, treated and safely disposed of at a later date, then that is probably perferable to simply throwing the stuff out, to go to landfill.

It is a better idea to compost and recycle, from the environment's point of view.

shabbyroad

Where does the waster go - a bin? What are you putting in it - everything? I would suggest you still keep all you recyclables separate and still compost.

It goes between the sink and the outside drain. The unit shreds everything and it joins all the other muck that normally goes down the kitchen sink.
I guess my question really is : are we making matters worse by adding to the degradable muck that goes into the water treatment plants ? Compared to chucking it in landfill I hope so.

We already recycle paper, glass, tin and put everything that can go into a composter.

If you are conscious of the number of wheelie bins you put out (are you in a sticker area?), is there anyway to reduce the amount of waste you produce in the first place (minimise secondary packaging, cut down takeaways)? Also flatten bottles, boxes and milk cartons. Otherwise it think it's down to does chopped up rubbish take up less space than general rubbish? It will mean rubbish will degrade quicker, but at the cost in electricity and in making the unit.
We just put out a single bin a week but it's only 75% full. If we put it out every other week (which we tried) it'll overflow.
Already compressing everything down and recycling everything possible.
Where this all came from was noticing that if we could just reduce our bin "input" by a third we would only need to send a bin out every two weeks. Saving both bin charges and of course being a bit gentler on the environment.
We reckon if we could dispose of leftover food (that can't go in the composter) then we could probably do this.

Are you happy with the safety of the unit? Yes. They're safe.


If the waste goes into some form of sceptic tank, to be collected, treated and safely disposed of at a later date, then that is probably perferable to simply throwing the stuff out, to go to landfill.
It goes into a water treatment facility somewhere along with the other muck from our sink/shower/toilet. Everything that goes into the unit is degradable - it's mostly foodstuff that can't go into a composter.

It is a better idea to compost and recycle, from the environment's point of view.
Agreed. The stuff that goes into this unit is unavoidable (we waste very little food but there is always something left over that can't go into the composter) so I'm looking for the "best" way to deal with it.

Victor

While it reduces the amount going to a refuse tip, I don't think it makes a huge difference as the processes are much the same. Does spending a fair amount of money (maintenance & servicing on top) on this adequately balance against the saving in bin charges?

Got a dog / pig you can feed the scraps to (as part of a balanced diet)?

Keeks

Or you could look at getting one of the Green cones. They take all kitchen waste eg cooked veg, meat, bones, and any other stuff that wouldn't be suitable for composting and biodegrades it in you garden.

See http://www.greencone.com for more details.

Snowball

kitchen waste disposal units arre the ones that grind up the food waste where it then joins our water waste system.

As for as I am concernd thats ok. Ireland now has the biggest serage treatment plant in europe (at the pidgen house) and the plant has 2 and only 2 final products. Clean water which goes into out ocean and ferteliser pettles. The pettles are used by farmers for fertilising their crops. Its a good system.

If you used that system your food would join it at ringsend (asuming ur in Dublin) and be traeted in a good fassion.

Muggins

Keeks wrote:

Or you could look at getting one of the Green cones. They take all kitchen waste eg cooked veg, meat, bones, and any other stuff that wouldn't be suitable for composting and biodegrades it in you garden.

See http://www.greencone.com for more details.

165 Euro seems very steep for this when you consider out neighbours up the north can have one for less than 95 Euro, and in some cases cheaper than that if the local authority subsidizes the purchase. I realize that delivery is included but it's unfortunate that it costs so much to do the right thing !

bonkey

shabbyroad wrote:

We reckon if we could dispose of leftover food (that can't go in the composter) then we could probably do this.

Surely if you regularly have leftover food in this type of quantity, the best solution should be to cook less, not to find a better method to dump the extra?

Not only would this cut down the rubbish bill, but would also reduce yoru food bill too

Snowball wrote:

the plant has 2 and only 2 final products. Clean water which goes into out ocean and ferteliser pettles.

That seems somewhat surprising to me. Surely there is stuff which goes into the water which can't be broken down into either?

The most immediate thought which comes to mind would be ciggie-butts thrown into toilet-bowls etc.

jc

netwhizkid

yeah these products are very popular in the states, they grind up alot of green waste and turn it into sludge that the waste water system can handle, be careful not to gring up a finger with one of these though.

Regards netwhizkid

Dundhoone

hmm interesting one that. I can tell you that if everyone had the same idea our WW treatment plants would not be able to cope with the increased load....treatment plants are not designed to cater for the extra load ground down domestic waste would create.
You will be using elec to chew the stuff up, and a significant amount of energy goes into the treatment process (vs the energy used to transport to the landfill)
A modern landfill with proper gas collection and leachate treatment is still the more environmentally friendly option in my opinion. (but how many of these do we actually have!?)

Iób

Compost it. Local authorities in Dublin at least supply green cones for about €30.

Water-borne waste disposal is already a very energy-intensive and water-intensive way of dealing with toilet waste etc. Don't make it worse by adding kitchen waste. Local authorities do not want these things and in fact there's a good chance they'll be banned if they start to become common.

Muggins

I&#243 wrote: »

Compost it. Local authorities in Dublin at least supply green cones for about €30.

You mean green compost bins not green cones for €30, right ? From the greencone.ie website the price is €165 so I can't imagine them to be subsidized that heavily.

Iób

Not sure. They're conical/tapered and fit into the ground.

Stoner

Unsure iob about the cone thing at only 30 Euro, I think you only get a composter for 20 euro and a kitchen bin for 9, very good value, but a cone unit is about 145 euro and seems to deal with cooked food and bones even, where are the unit from the local authorities only deals with composting waste.
If the cone unit does as they say they wiil they sound like a real option for Shabbyroad. To be honest I think Shabbyroad is mainly trying to cut the bin charge in half and is not as interested in saving the environment as saving money (like most people , myself included, this is why i agree with bin charges no insult intended, we are all interested in saving the environment , but saving a few bob is a great motivator )
I'm trying to find extra info on the cone units, do they really work etc, one guy here said he had one and it works but needs alot of accelerator powder every now and then. They sound a bit better then the worm bins, missed the worm bin show in balnchardstown on Monday, maybe another one is planned , they turned people away big time

busrus1

I have made an order going back to early november 2005 - Over 3 months later I still have not received my green cone even though my credit card has been billed and long since paid - if you are lucky enough to get through to the <snip> (Which is difficult to say the least) you will be given a rehearsed speech about how he has been left down and it's on its way and you will have it very shortly. Anybody have a similar experience? My advice give www.greencone.ie a very wide berth indeed

WILKEL

busrus1 wrote:

I have made an order going back to early november 2005 - Over 3 months later I still have not received my green cone even though my credit card has been billed and long since paid - if you are lucky enough to get through to the <snip> (Which is difficult to say the least) you will be given a rehearsed speech about how he has been left down and it's on its way and you will have it very shortly. Anybody have a similar experience? My advice give www.greencone.ie a very wide berth indeed

Agree with the above info - althought I got my greencone from the local council I found that greencone.ie have very little interest in helping anyone - never anwsered e-mails I sent about some issues I was having. I purchased the accelerator powder of them a few time and service was not too fast.
For people that are making some money on this product I would have expected that they would show a little more interest in helping people out - Instead i get the impression that they are just interested in the inital sale:mad: .
ps - purchased mine for e40 from Mayo County Council:)

Keeks

I suggest you phone them up directly if you have issues with the product. Emails don't always get answered.

greencone.ie are agents for Green Cone Ltd in the uk. So if phoning them up doesn't solve any problems contact eh parent company in the uk. http://www.greencone.com/contactus.asp

We'll have no more talk about it here as it is off-topic.