Once again the Daily Mail is in recycling-bashing mode. This time trying to scare householders about food waste recycling claiming that if made compulsory this will lead to infestations of rats, maggots and flies.
Once again they have got it wrong. If food is put in the dustbin it goes to a landfill site and as it decomposes it gives off methane, a potent greenhouse gas. If food is collected and processed through an anaerobic digestion plant the methane is captured, electricity can be generated and the composted material goes back onto the land in preference to industrially produced fertilizers. Given this choice this really is a no brainer.
The Mail claims that in trials of 94,000 households, one quarter had problems with vermin, maggots or flies. In fact we are well placed to comment as the UK's biggest supplier of kitchen caddies and kerbside caddies for foodwaste. We have supplied many hundreds of thousands without causing any such problems.
Each kerbside caddy has a close fitting lid with a locking mechanism to prevent scavenging animals being able to get at the contents. Many are used with compostable bin liners, further preventing any such problem.
In a vain attempt to demonstrate that this will never happen, The Mail states that 1/3 of households do not have wheeled bins, so cannot have caddies. More nonsense. The caddy does not depend on having a wheeled bin at all.
Finally, the food waste collection on a weekly basis is the best way to prevent problems with alternate weekly collections.
Giving every household a food waste bin would be of great environmental benefit. The Daily Mail should do its research properly and should be a bit more responsible.
