Substack diary no.131: Wednesday, 22nd. April 2026

It is quite windy out there; I am guessing a ‘fresh breeze’ on the Beaufort scale. Waste teams have not yet caught up with the Easter Bank Holidays, as the garden waste bins remain firmly planted on the pavement. I only put out two of five bins on Monday evening – food waste and garden waste. It struck me this morning that if I have a full garden waste bin I should probably not have a food waste bin.

I remember discussing plans with Southwark Council back in about 2002 to collect food waste from flats on some of the largest estates in London, which happened to surround one of the largest parks in the borough. The plan was to build an anaerobic digestion plant, most of which would be underground and which would produce energy in the form of biogas and a ‘waste’ product that is a valuable natural fertiliser. The Council would use the fertiliser for its parks and gardens, and the biogas would contribute towards producing heat in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant. Food waste from flats providing warmth for those same flats.

It was such a good idea it was bound to fail, although I did not know that at the time. Politics, vested interests, ignorance of science and fear of the unknown conspired against it.

The reason I should probably not have a food waste bin is because I should be using the food waste myself, in a compost bin set in a quiet corner of the garden. Why don’t I? Essentially because I am a private tenant hampered by uncertainty. I could set up a compost bin and put time and effort into getting it going, but what if I must leave in six months? Unlike the furniture, I could not take the compost bin with me!