Brown Bin 2016…Your Options?

With the nationwide introduction of Pay-by-Weight in July, serious consideration now needs to be given to how food waste (otherwise known as brown waste or  biowaste)  is to be managed in the kitchen. Biowaste is the the most dense (heaviest per volume) and messiest of the three waste types ( recyclables, biowaste and residual waste) and requires the most attention by the householder from an environmental, hygienic, convenience and cost point of view. As it will also be illegal to mix food/ brown waste with other waste types, householder will need to be more vigilant than ever with their waste segregation. Influencing factors that should be considered  when deciding on how to manage your food waste are

(a) how much brown waste do you and your family produce per day/week?
(b) can you live with a food caddy sitting on your work top?
(c) is it convenient to use?
(d) would you prefer to have your food caddy fully integrated into you kitchen units?
(e) would you prefer if your food caddy was incorporated into a single waste management
(f) do you wish to use liners in your caddy?
(g) how do you propose to keep your caddy and outside brown bin clean?
(h) how much are you willing to pay for a caddy?
(i) do you place aesthetices above functionality in deciding you brown bin solution?
(j) do you  want a ventilated caddy so as to reduce the moisture content and weight of the
     brown waste?
(k) can you tolerate caddies that will discolour when they contain waste?
(l) would you prefer a disposable caddy?
(m) do you require your brown waste caddy to be dishwasher friendly?
(n) have you considered the cost of compostable liners or the replacement cost of disposable
     caddies in your analysis?
(o) is liner replacement a cumbersome, tricky exercise?

Some solutions to the management of brown waste in the kitchen are shown below, and we will be going into some further detail on each before the July deadline.