Plans for kitchen caddies stink: Could waste disposal units be a solution?
IN GUERNSEY we are shortly going to be required to have special food waste bags and later, after being picked up, the waste will be processed and somehow disposed of. This comes at considerable cost that will continue forever. This rotting food, in a special bin, will sit under the sink and will stink; indeed my friends in the UK call them 'stinky bins'. All my friends in the US have a waste food (garbage) grinder in the sink of their kitchens and it grinds the food waste into little pieces which can then be washed away down the drain. A couple of years ago I rented a posh apartment and it came with such a grinder in the sink; in fact all the kitchens had grinders. I also know that many posh homes in Guernsey have them. They are excellent.
There are about 20,000 residences in Guernsey and if they each had a food-grinder then the amount of stinky food waste needing to be picked up and processed would be reduced significantly and in many cases would be zero.
The price of each grinder is about £70 but there is additional cost for connection to the drain-pipe under the sink and to an electric-socket for the grinder motor. In a past life I installed one and the effort was trivial; providing there is enough room under the sink for the motor.
About two years ago I wrote to a States department with this suggestion and was informed by a deputy that the Guernsey drains may be clogged by such an approach. I am not convinced by this answer.
'We the people' have an opportunity to bypass the States and just install grinders ourselves – no stinky-food detectable in our kitchen's waste bins; no mice attracted to our kitchen or indeed rats in our front gardens. Surely this is a health and safety issue?
The ideal situation would be for the planning department to require such food-grinders are part of new and improvements to houses plus all States houses to have one installed over many years.
Architects, please ensure that power sockets and pipe lengths under sinks are suitable for easy installation of a grinder.
Objective: 10 years from now every home has a grinder and there are no stinky food bags and no processing by the States at all.
Short term actions:
1. Before renting or buying a house ask if there is a food-grinder in the kitchen sink or indeed peer under the sink to see if there is sufficient room to install a grinder.
2. If you own a home, install a food-grinder in your kitchen – quickly before they are banned.
3. Buy a nose-clip to remove the smell of stinky food bins or bags in your house.
To all Guernsey people: May rotting food smells not be in your kitchens by the end of 2017.
REX FERBRACHE,
Address withheld.
Editor's footnote: Guernsey Water responds: In response to your reader's letter, Guernsey Water borrows water from the environment by collecting it from streams, storing it in reservoirs, treating it, supplying it to customers, collecting it again once it has been used, then conveying it to Belle Greve Wastewater Centre where it receives preliminary treatment before returning it safely to the environment again.
This means we are responsible for the water cycle from source to sea when it is subjected to the greatest human influence.
