Six lucky winners have been announced to the recent Horsham District Council Hot Bin food composter competition.
The winners had to submit their best ideas on how to reduce food waste or reuse food to be entered into a draw for their chance to win a pioneering Hot Bin food composter worth almost £300.
The winners are: Cheryl Dean from Southwater, Joyce Baker from Horsham, Jennifer Spice from Billingshurst, Charles Pringle from Henfield, Clare Skelton from Sedgwick near Horsham and Helen Carson from Horsham.
A Hot Bin composter can take cooked food waste (including bones), peelings, pet waste and more and turn it into rich compost in 30 – 90 days by heating the waste up to 60°C. The result is a nutrient-rich compost for your garden for minimal effort and reduced food waste in your rubbish bin.
Some of the top food waste saving ideas that were submitted are:
Plan your meals – this helps reduce food waste as the same ingredients can be used for multiple recipes.
Freeze foods that are near their use by date before they go off – keep an eye on use by dates.
Get your children involved in food preparation; this will encourage them to eat different foods and they will be less likely to leave food.
Encourage people to serve themselves at mealtime - only they know how hungry they are.
Bread is one of the most common thrown away items, but if you keep it in the fridge it will last way longer and won’t go off for weeks.
Any vegetable or fruit that can’t be eaten simply put around garden plants and cover with grass cuttings so it will directly feed the soil and help to stop weeds.
Additionally, the Council is offering the opportunity to purchase a HOTBIN with a 10% discount for Horsham District residents.
The Hot Bins have already been successfully trialled across the District with local families and community groups.
Horsham District Council Cabinet Member for Environmental Health, Recycling and Waste Cllr Jay Mercer commented:
Thank you to everybody who entered our Hot Bin composter competition and for sharing your top tips on how to avoid food waste which we will continue to share across all our channels.
My congratulations to the winners and I hope they will continue to share their food waste saving experiences and give us their feedback.
Some 41.5% of our average waste bin is made up of food waste. However, up to 70% of that waste can actually be avoided. By finding ways to reduce our food waste, composting, or sharing our surplus food, we will save ourselves money, protect the environment and support our communities.
For more information about food waste and Hot Bin food composters please visit our composting webpage.
For media queries please email press@horsham.gov.uk.