Waste Not, Want Not

Another bloody bin. We had three for a long time in Coventry. Now there are four.

Collections of food waste in the new bins we now have from the council began on 7th September. It's getting confusing.

We had a recycling bin. Easy. Recyclable stuff. The rubbish bin, for all the crap that isn't recyclable. And the garden bin. For grass cuttings and hedgerow clippings. Dead easy.

Then, some bright spark in the council decided there's money in waste food. It must be that. Because get this. They paid for us all to have the new "food waste bins". But since they are for food waste, did anyone think about the obvious bit?

Hang on, though. There are a couple of other things.

First, The smell. The general gore of rotting food in a bin that gets emptied once a week. The stink will be horrible. And then, more waste on top of the leftovers that didn't go in the back of the bin lorry.

Next, hello, rats. Right? A magnet for them. To be fair, they did think of that. You can push the handle down to lock the bin. Keeping Roger Rat and Fred the Fox out.

Oh, and for the smell and gunge? Use liners. The obvious answer. Then, the bin men scoop out the bag. They haven't got to put up with the smell of rotting waste. And the bin stays clean. Obvious.

There's a catch. You are only allowed to use compostable liners. And the supermarkets weren't slow on the uptake. They cost a fortune. We've lined ours with newspaper.

It got me thinking. What do they do with the waste? It gets taken to an anaerobic digestion facility. Then, it's recycled into nutrient-rich fertiliser. And that supports local farmers and improves soil quality. We're told.

Now the obvious bit. I’ve got an idea. Why don't we avoid wasting food?

I mean, food waste. Those two words DO NOT belong together. The funny thing is, I remember my Grandmother using a phrase when we were children. She would fill her sideboard with sandwiches, snacks, and all sorts of treats. And hope we'd scoff the lot. She loved to feed us up, bless her. She worried that we had a long walk home and needed the sustenance to make it back.

My mother would tell us not to eat so much. To which my Grandmother would reply: “Leave them alone! They are growing children. And waste not, want not.”

That phrase. It first came into use in the late 1700s. But there was one before that.

Wilful waste makes woeful want

Way back in 1576. Meaning we've known wasting stuff is a bad idea for bloody ages.

With that in mind, 'waste not, want not' seems relevant today. We don't need bins for food waste. Because there shouldn't be food waste. It’s that simple.

Yeah, then you check the 'Best By' dates on the perishables in the weekly food shop delivery. Bloody hell. You'd have to have a massive meal and then nothing much for a week. The problem isn't restricted to us. The supermarkets need to answer for it as well.

Right, I'm going to make a brew. And chuck the teabags in the food waste bin. Along with the apple core and a couple of eggshells. You'll get loads of fertiliser from that . . .