Horsham family pioneers use of new recycling ‘hot bin’

The Coakleys, a family of five, have volunteered to trial a new ‘hot bin’ supplied to them by Horsham District Council.

Duirng the six-month trial, the Coakleys will share with local people just how using the special bin will reduce the amount of food waste and turn it into home compost.

The council supports the use of traditional composters as a way of reducing food waste, but says they are only able to process food scraps such as peelings, eggshells and teabags.

But the revolutionary new hot bin - winner of the 2019 Royal Horticultural Society Garden Product of the Year - can process anything from bones to chicken waste and turn it into rich compost for the garden in just 90 days.

The six month trial started this month and the council will now gather data on how much food waste is being transferred into home composting instead of going to waste.

During the trial the family will be sending updates, photos and videos which will be shared via the council’s social media channels.

At the end of the trial the family will receive a £50 shopping voucher for taking part and, as an added bonus, will be able to keep the hot bin worth around £200.

Council cabinet member for the environment Philip Circus said: “We aim to gather the feedback from the Coakley family and use the data to inform our learnings on food recycling and in the future expand on this type of trial and perhaps explore promoting hot bins at a subsidised price for Horsham district residents going forward.”

Mrs Amanda Coakley added: “As a family, we really hope that by taking part in this trial it will make a real difference to how local residents think about recycling their food waste.

“We just think it is a really easy way to help reduce our carbon footprint without having to give up using a car or foregoing a mobile phone.”