(Oooh, alliteration!)

We’ve had a Compost This email from Charlie:

Can I compost those paper fairy cake cases?

I’m presuming the question is about used ones rather than a box of new ones (you’re not going to use them? Freecycle!) and the answer is a big, definite ‘maybe’.

The tiny cases I’ve got in my cupboard seem to be just paper so I’d probably risk those but other ones – particularly muffin cases and ones on bought-in cakes – tend to feel waxier. It might be that they’ve just been treated (supercalendered to make glassine) and are still just paper, but it also might be that they’ve been treated with a plasticizing agent, which may or may not be natural, and so may or may not be something you want in your compost heap. If you’re not sure of the composition of the material, it’s probably best leaving them out.

(If you’re baking at home and your cakes are always going to be eaten in the home, it might be worth getting some reusable cake cases – although they tend to be made from silicone so have a higher initial impact than paper ones.)

Thoughts?

We’ve had an email from Jennifer asking:

I was on the verge of buying a soda siphon to make my own sparkling water at home – surely much more ecologically sound than buying bottled sparkling water, right? But my husband raised a concern about the used CO2 cartridges? Are they recyclable?

A not-so-quick Google around suggests that they’re metal (typically steel) so can be recycled with normal metal recycling. Anyone know for sure?

When we posted about water filter cartridges three years ago (cor! that’s ages!), we had a number of people making reuse suggestions – how to clean them to get more life out of the filters – are there any tricks like that for soda syphon cartridges?

Even if they couldn’t be reused or recycled though, it still might be worth considering the syphon route because of the amount of energy wasted shipping heavy bottles of water around the place.

Any other suggestions?

Wow, last week was lots of fun with all the giveaways (final draws at noon today!) but back to regular rescheduled programming now.

Readers of my personal blog (all three of you ;) ) and my personal Twitter feed will already know we’ve got a new addition to our household – a lovely old springer spaniel called Lily. We’ve wanted a dog for a while and have been actively looking for a cat-friendly rescue dog since November. The cat-friendly bit was the most important thing – we didn’t care about breed, sex, age etc – just that they’d be cool around our cats — and Lily is the coolest. The cats are doing really well too: they’re still a little wary when she’s running around but after a week, they’re comfortable enough to sleep near each other and the other day, Lily stretched out in her sleep and threw her legs around Boron and he was bemused rather than scared.

We’re both first time dog owners and we’ve got a lot to learn about everything – particularly food & toys. I nearly missed the once-an-hour bus the other day because I was in the dog food aisle of the supermarket for so long, looking at all the different options. Out of all the different things she’s tried so far, she loves rawhide bones the most but as a paranoid new dog owner, I’m worried about the potential choking hazard – small chunks can break off the chew and the dog, unable to chew them any smaller, swallows them then chokes – or the chunk swells in their belly and causes a blockage. I’d rather that didn’t happen to my Lily dog.

I’m quite happy to supervise her nibbling but wondered if there is anything I can do with the chunks I rescue – can I break them up smaller and add them to her food? will rehydrating them help?

I’ve also heard about smaller/older dogs soggying up the rawhide rather than actually chewing/eating it – are there any options then instead of just binning it?

We’ve had an email from Hayley asking:

Can I compost baked beans? From a tin. We always seem to have some leftover!

Like many composting questions, there is no definitive answer. Some people say it’s fine – they’re vegetables after all, they’ll break down – but other people say don’t do it – the preservatives can upset worms/bacteria in the heap and/or attracted unwanted vermin. If you’ve got a well contained, healthy heap, a few beans won’t ruin it.

Composting though should be a last resort – try to use them first. If you don’t think you’ll use them up within a couple of days in the fridge, you can apparently freeze them (anyone had experience doing that? anything to do/avoid?). You can also add them as filler to soups and casseroles – but if they’re salty ones, remember to adjust your recipe accordingly.

How do you use up your beans?

So far in our lunch–themed week, we’ve mostly focused on packed lunches and take-out – what about eating at cafes/restaurants?

After a stressful start to the day yesterday, John & I had treated ourselves to lunch at one of our favourite cafes, the Love Apple in Bradford – I had locally sourced pork, leek and ginger sausages with mash and homemade onion gravy & relish – yum! My plate was practically licked clean so no food waste here on my end but I wondered about the waste higher up the chain. On the way out, I asked the chef about whether they compost their kitchen waste and they do – it’s not a council service but they have someone to pick it up regularly. I’m going to check with all my regular haunts to see whether they compost their waste.

Do you know if your favourite cafes/restaurants compost their food waste? Do they do anything else to minimise waste?

Has anyone had any success asking food businesses to change their practices to minimise waste?