Using our food waste collection

We've been using our new food waste caddy for a few weeks now and so far so good!

As a busy family of four who are often fitting in meals around clubs and school activities, it has taken a bit of getting used to. However, we are now all on board and the children are even reminding us not to put food waste in the bin!

I have found that the most worthwhile thing is because we are more focused on what we do with our waste food: we are trying to reduce the amount of food we waste. This is our ultimate goal, one day at a time.

Through having the food waste caddy, I have been surprised to see how much tea we drink as tea bags feature heavily at the end of a day. It is also an excellent way to see how many vegetables get left on the plates at dinner time. That said, the children are embracing the idea and have got into the habit of bringing home lunch box food waste such as apple cores and satsuma peel so they can be added to the caddy.

On bin collection day, it is really great to see so many households in our road taking part in the food waste scheme. The Council collected 88 tonnes of food waste in the second week of the scheme and this will be turned into soil improver. I am really pleased that our food waste is being used in such a positive way.

My next step is to try to only shop for what I know we will eat and look into using a milk delivery service to reduce our plastic waste. Growing up in the 1970s, the milk delivery undoubtedly involved a sibling fight over who would get the 'top of the milk'. Hopefully, we can avoid similar 'disagreements'.