Food Waste Caddy built in to worktop - Smell?

[puntloos]

Subject says most of it, the main idea of course is that if you're prepping, it would be great to just whip anything into some type of bin, and I'm thinking having one embedded in my worktop. Something like:

 

 

But a crucial problem: the smell. I'm told that having the food waste simmer not inside a cabinet inside a caddy (admittedly in my case only perhaps 80 cm below my worktop) but in a potentially not-very-well sealing bin could be problematic.

 

What approach do you all recommend? Ideally something where getting rid of waste is "one quick flick" away rather than having to pull a caddy out (typically getting your hands dirty) or having some bowl or your sink serve as a temporary caddy, which just delays the problem and clogs up the sink.. 

 

Thoughts much appreciated 😃

[markc]

Waste disposal! Anything that stores food waste is going to stink unless you clean it everyday

[Conor]

^^^Get an insinkerator. One of my favourite things in our kitchen. Contemplated a prep sink in the island with an insinkerator, but in the end prioritised prep space instead and have it in the main sink directly behind prep area. 90% of our food waste goes down it.

[puntloos]

7 minutes ago, Conor said:

^^^Get an insinkerator. One of my favourite things in our kitchen.

Ha funny, my parents, in the late 60s, considered such a thing, and we had a glaring hole in our sink ready for it. Only to be told it was illegal. 

 

So here's my current assumption, based on 60's knowledge

Good idea then.

7 minutes ago, Conor said:

Contemplated a prep sink in the island with an insinkerator, but in the end prioritised prep space instead and have it in the main sink directly behind prep area. 90% of our food waste goes down it.

 

I do have a prep sink planned anyway in fact. Would you agree adding an insinkerator to it would be almost a no-brainer? 

 

[Kelvin]

Do you have a garden? (I assume so) compost your food waste and put the compost into the garden. 

[S2D2]

I inherited an old waste disposal unit when we moved in to this house. It took an infuriating amount of effort to keep odour free, new ones may be better.

 

I ripped it out in the end and we use a counter top caddy with compostable liner. I leave the lid off because trapping moisture or heat in the thing speeds up decomposition (spent coffee pucks). Nothing smelly, cooked or animal based goes in and it stays odour free until emptied into an outside compost bin twice weekly to weekly. Keep the container small to avoid the temptation to stretch this longer. Caddy is just quickly rinsed before adding a new liner but can go in the dishwasher if it gets grubby, the liners prevent this well.

 

Makes great compost for the garden as a bonus.

[Conor]

25 minutes ago, puntloos said:

 

 

I do have a prep sink planned anyway in fact. Would you agree adding an insinkerator to it would be almost a no-brainer? 

 

 

100%. Just dump all your peelings in, run some water, hit the button and it's gone in seconds. We have the top of the range model, don't know what the cheaper ones are like but it's fantastic. I've shoved the remains of a cooked chicken down it, no bother. Seems to struggle with limes which is rather random and comical.

 

No smells, not as loud as you think, and a doddle to install. Takes up a lot of room under the sink though and you'll need to have your waste pipe lower than normal. So get the unit before brining your waste pipe up into the cabinet.

 

Only issue we had with it was when the spark was trimming cables near by an a 1" bit of wire got in and jammed it. Even at that, removing the unit to get in to it is easy, no tools needed (just need the hex key to refit it).

[dpmiller]

is the OP on a public sewer or a treatment plant?

[puntloos]

4 hours ago, dpmiller said:

is the OP on a public sewer or a treatment plant?

Public sewer, 30,000 ppl town

[puntloos]

4 hours ago, S2D2 said:

I inherited an old waste disposal unit when we moved in to this house. It took an infuriating amount of effort to keep odour free, new ones may be better.

 

I ripped it out in the end and we use a counter top caddy with compostable liner. I leave the lid off because trapping moisture or heat in the thing speeds up decomposition (spent coffee pucks). Nothing smelly, cooked or animal based goes in and it stays odour free until emptied into an outside compost bin twice weekly to weekly. Keep the container small to avoid the temptation to stretch this longer. Caddy is just quickly rinsed before adding a new liner but can go in the dishwasher if it gets grubby, the liners prevent this well.

 

Makes great compost for the garden as a bonus.

 

Yeah, I guess I'm a bit more. mixed (some partially eaten breakfast cereal) but indeed avoiding animal stuff helps a ton.

It's worth considering. I have a hatred of caddies because you will have to "do a lot of shuffling stuff around" - futzing with the liner, open lid with grubby hands, dripping contents (of sink) in your hands etc.. All very annoying.

 

But yes compost.. meh. It feels more 'natural' but I'm not sure I can deal with the practicalities

[puntloos]

4 hours ago, Conor said:

 

100%. Just dump all your peelings in, run some water, hit the button and it's gone in seconds. We have the top of the range model, don't know what the cheaper ones are like but it's fantastic. I've shoved the remains of a cooked chicken down it, no bother. Seems to struggle with limes which is rather random and comical.

 

No smells, not as loud as you think, and a doddle to install. Takes up a lot of room under the sink though and you'll need to have your waste pipe lower than normal. So get the unit before brining your waste pipe up into the cabinet.

 

Only issue we had with it was when the spark was trimming cables near by an a 1" bit of wire got in and jammed it. Even at that, removing the unit to get in to it is easy, no tools needed (just need the hex key to refit it).

Yea as long as it's cleanable(ish) beyond the water that already rinses through it.. also again I would indeed avoid animal based stuff

[Onoff]

We have a small compost bin in the far corner of the kitchen, by the door, for compostables.

 

Then what we call the "fox jug". Choice scraps go in there and are put out every evening for the fox/badger. Not sure pizza crusts, out of date sweets and leftover icing are really that good for them...

 

Empty them, wash and scrub in the sink with a bit of bleach and Fairy, job done. 

[Kelvin]

4 hours ago, puntloos said:

 

Yeah, I guess I'm a bit more. mixed (some partially eaten breakfast cereal) but indeed avoiding animal stuff helps a ton.

It's worth considering. I have a hatred of caddies because you will have to "do a lot of shuffling stuff around" - futzing with the liner, open lid with grubby hands, dripping contents (of sink) in your hands etc.. All very annoying.

 

But yes compost.. meh. It feels more 'natural' but I'm not sure I can deal with the practicalities

There is something very satisfying about producing your own compost from your waste food. We have chickens so thry eat a lot of the scraps too and the chichen poo goes into the composter. Ultimately I have a problem with the amount of waste that gets produced and thrown away. It needs to be dealt with at some point. 

[SteamyTea]

Put food waste into the general (black bin) waste and then the council will send it to the incinerator.  Then get some electricity from it.

 

https://suezcornwall.co.uk/what-we-do/energy-recovery/electricity-generation/

Edited October 17, 2022 by SteamyTea

[S2D2]

7 hours ago, puntloos said:

 

Yeah, I guess I'm a bit more. mixed (some partially eaten breakfast cereal) but indeed avoiding animal stuff helps a ton.

It's worth considering. I have a hatred of caddies because you will have to "do a lot of shuffling stuff around" - futzing with the liner, open lid with grubby hands, dripping contents (of sink) in your hands etc.. All very annoying.

 

But yes compost.. meh. It feels more 'natural' but I'm not sure I can deal with the practicalities

Yeah that's why ours is left on the worktop with no lid, not the best aesthetically but way less faff, just chuck things in. We have one with a removable inner shell so fitting a new liner is very quick and looks neat.

 

Milk etc wouldn't work with that though so if the newer waste disposals are better (as others have said they are) it may suit your usage more. 

[markocosic]

BIN DRAWER

 

Not like this:

 

But like this:

 

With lids removed and 2x large size bins in a 600 wide drawer. Make mess. Open drawer with clean hand. Sweep off worktop into bin with dirty hand. Close drawer.

 

Open drawer. Dunk teabag in bin. Close drawer. No missing. No splashing. Honestly life changing.

 

It...doesn't smell if emptied weekly...unless you fill it with the kind of smoked fish that stinks the place up before it has a chance to rot. 

 

Smoked fish day = bin empty day. 🙂

 

We also have a waste disposal for goo. We started with only this but since getting putting the bings in a drawer and the tins on shelves under the sink a lot just goes in the bin these days. 

 

Try it by sticking a bowl in a drawer and filling that?

[puntloos]

Thanks all, I think the bin drawer is not a bad option, but I think it's the waste disposal unit route for me. Permanently being able to whip food into the sink (not to mention stuff you've already been peeling, just let it drop from your hands) seems like a very sensible approach. 

 

Just have to think a bit about "what if your favorite xyz drops into the WDU"

 

 

[Conor]

40 minutes ago, puntloos said:

 

 

Just have to think a bit about "what if your favorite xyz drops into the WDU"

 

 

 

With the insinkerator, it has a rubber top where the plug goes that stops anything bigger than a pea going down unles you force it. The mechanism itself doesn't have teeth or blades, just a couple sliding notches that somehow do all the work. Anything hard tends to bounce up and down rather than get jammed in the baldes. I think the older ones were notoriously prone to blowing up from an errant teaspoon.