Binman warns: don’t cook food waste—stop two errors

Many households have access to weekly food waste collections that separate your kitchen scraps from general waste, so it can be recycled to make things like fertiliser for plants and even renewable energy. But according to one binman on social media, there are two common mistakes people make with their food waste bins that make his job way harder than it needs to be. Ashley, known online as the No. 1 Binman, shared a video in which he urged households to stop these annoying habits.

Not only could you be unwittingly annoying refuse collectors, but you could also be inconveniencing yourself. The issues can lead to maggots, flies, and nasty smells that aren’t pleasant to anyone involved. Ashley operates in South-East England, where food waste bins became a legal requirement in March this year. This means that many households have only just started separating their food waste from general waste, and many people are still getting used to the new guidance. To help those who are still adjusting to having

a third bin collection to worry about, Ashley’s TikTok video highlighted two common mistakes people are making that could make their stomach turn in the future. 1. Putting your bin in the sun Depending on the way your house faces and where you have to put your bins out for collection, this might be somewhat unavoidable, but Ashley urged people not to leave their food waste bins in direct sunlight. He argued that many food waste bins are made of dark-coloured plastics. The heat absorbed

by these plastics can warm up the food inside the bin, making it smell and attracting flies. If these flies then breed in your bin, it’ll end up crawling with maggots, which the binmen then have to deal with when taking your rubbish away. He said: “Please stop putting your food waste caddies in the sun. Please don’t put them directly in the sun the whole time. Because they cook. Most places have dark colours somewhere on them, and they cook the food inside. You

open them up [and there’s] flies, maggots, everything.” As some people in the comments pointed out, this might be impossible to address if your usual bin collection area gets a lot of direct sunlight. However, if you can keep the bin in the shade until the morning of collection day, that should help reduce the heat it is exposed to. 2. Putting food waste in the bin with no liner All food waste should be placed in a caddy liner before going into your outside

bin. These liners are biodegradable and compostable, so they can be collected by binmen, and they help to keep your food waste away from flies. What’s more, they keep your bin clean, so you don’t have to wash it out as often. Ashley insisted that if you choose not to put your food waste in a liner, the binmen won’t clean it out for you. This means that if you don’t clean it yourself, your bin will eventually harbour mould, maggots, and other nasties. He

said: “If you’re going to put your food waste in there, please bag it up. Put it in a bag, newspaper, anything like that. Perfectly fine, not a problem. But don’t put it in loose, because then it’s going to stink forever until you clean it out. And then you’re like, ‘I’m not cleaning it out, it stinks’. I know! I smelt it when I was tipping it in! “So please. Not in sunlight, and please bag it up. That’s all. And then everyone’s happy!

The smell goes when we empty it. Winner winner, chicken dinner. Make sure you eat all your chicken dinner, because otherwise it goes in the food waste.”

food waste bins, maggots, flies, Ashley No. 1 Binman, South-East England, caddy liner, weekly collections, March legal requirement