Comments on: Winter Tips for your Green Bin

By: Duke Smythe

Duke Smythe — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:13:54 +0000

I still don't understand why cities differ in what they allow in their green bins. Ottawa put out a notice this week calling for people to stop putting dog feces in their green bins. However, the Nation's Capital allows kitty litter and wood chips/droppings from hamsters etc… in their green bins. Why do they treat dog turd differently from cat turd? Furthermore, aren't our green bins going to the same sort of facility as Ottawa? Does anyone know why we can't include kitty litter?

By: Musicgrrl

Musicgrrl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:57:12 +0000

If you’re concerned about the smell, empty the indoor bin regularly. I also use paper bags in the indoor bin and when one is full, I take it out to the green bin. Easy peasy and it takes up about 40 seconds of my day.

By: skevbo

skevbo — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:26:24 +0000

@Leif That’s a great idea, I never thought about keeping my scraps in the freezer. I have to admit that I’m a very reluctant “green binner” because of the smell/mess… but that’s a great solution! I’m going to try it out today.

By: Harvey Kirkpatrick

Harvey Kirkpatrick — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:59:45 +0000

@Laura We got a few of the Bag to Earth sacs when the green bin arrived at our door last Spring. We thought they worked great, but after doing a bit of shopping around, we could not justify the rather hefty price tag for something that we were simply going to throw out. I don’t doubt that they are less likely to leak, and therefore freeze to the interior of a green bin. But from our experience, paper lunch bags, and old newspaper work just as well when your transporting scraps from the kitchen to the bin.

Whether it’s spray on or from a bottle, there’s no way that I am going to coat the interior of my green bin with oil.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:54:33 +0000

We use the bags made by the Napanee company Bag to Earth in the winter. They keep the contents from freezing to the sides of the bin, or into a big lump. Without the smell and bug factor in the winter, we can go two to three weeks without having the bin emptied, so it doesn’t cost that much to use the bags. You can get them online (cheapest) or at Canadian Tire or Zellers.

Instead of the non-stick spray, you could also try cooking oil. Application might be a bit messy though.

By: Leif

Leif — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:17:05 +0000

I keep my green bin scraps in my freezer in a plastic bag. It keeps the house from stinking up the house in the summer and in the winter it keeps them from freezing to the green bin. On collection day I extract the scraps from the plastic bag (it’s easier than you’d think) and drop them into the bin in their frozen chunked state ;)