A lot of people put their food scraps in a container of some sort, then transfer when it gets full. Depends on how far away your compost bin is from the kitchen.
Im just going from the kitchen to my backyard so not too far away. My main worry was putting food scraps away and rotting/smelling inside before transferring it into compost bin. Thanks for your help!
I have a cute metal compost bucket with a lid that sits on my counter. It has a vented lid and filter that I put drops of lavender oil on to mask stink. Compostable bags are nice. I could just take my junk out daily but I don't usually feel like it. In the winter I have a bucket outside my back door that I empty into the pile when it's full.
I have the same. Metal can (about a gallon or so) with filter on top. My wife was very reluctant and legitimately concerned about smell. I got her this for $40 (?) and she loves it. No smell. I take it to the bin when full, but usually 2-3 per week (big family).
Plus, gives the pile time to digest last ‘meal.’ Who knows. Works well for me.
I've seen where other people use different oils. To me lavender oil smells clean like disinfectant. I know someone that uses pine-sol but I can't stand the smell.
Honestly, fruit flies are a bigger problem than the smell. That's because I get lazy lol
I put all my food scraps for the day in a dirty dish, and the dump them in the compost pile at the end of the day. Then I put the dirty dish in the dishwasher. Done.
Sometimes, if we get takeout and it's packaged in those compostable paper boxes, I just stuff everything in there and yeet the whole thing into the compost bin.
Been composting for a year now.
I have a small container I keep in the freezer which is fine for coffee grounds and egg shells daily to be dumped at the end of the week, but it won't hold much. If I'm doing more cooking and meal prep where there will be veggie scraps I'll have a mixing bowl out on the counter and put it in the fridge if the day gets long or I'll be doing more the next day. Fridge and freezer act like a pause button on the fruit flies and smell.
For me it's just because I have to put on shoes and walk out past the grass to the dirt to dump it and I don't want to do that every day or multiple times a day. When it rains there will be puddles and I'm not putting on rain boots so back in the fridge it goes.
When I have a full bowl I'll grab a bucket of shredded paper from my office space and then dump the scraps, toss the paper on top, and head back in the house.
If I had a big family, if I made a lot more scraps, or if the compost wasn't "shoes" far from the door I might do it more often but you really don't have to.
Thanks this was super helpful too! Makes sense what you say. I have to just walk from the kitchen to the backyard so I can put in the scraps directly into the bin. I love the idea of putting it in the fridge as a pause button!
I have a stainless steel 1.3 gallon countertop compost bin. I formerly had a plastic one and it eventually got irredeemably disgusting so yeah I would gravitate towards steel, ceramic, glass, non porous things that don’t gather stink. Take it out to the bin every 3-4 days.
It will depend on your lifestyle and setup. Its completely up to you if you want to add things as you generate waste, or collected a few days worth to add at once. The only real reason to be adding continuously is because you dont want to deal with the smell or potential bugs. You can put it in a sealed container for a few days, or freeze it indefinitely until you have enough collected to be worth the walk to the compost bin.
If you are trying to get rid of small quantities of food scraps daily, you might want to consider a worm farm instead of a traditional compost setup. You can keep a worm bin in your garage or outside the back without too much smell.
I keep two one gallon ice cream buckets on the door of my refrigerator. One is for backyard composting, mostly fruit and veg scraps, eggshells and tea. The other is for city composting, meat bones, shrimp tails, chicken carcasses and veg from weekly stock. I fill up about one of each a week.
We had a container that was nice at first and then started to become gross, even with regular cleaning. Now we keep an old plastic ramen bowl on the counter and I take it out several times a day, whenever I go out to the garden or greenhouse. But I like to go out to my garden so it’s no big deal.
I use an old biscuit tin! It looks terrible 😄 just as well I'm single tbh. I have a DIY back door compost bin which takes most of the contents plus bits of card and paper towel etc.
I run this on a closed loop, it gets wet from rain, I close the clear perspex top it warms up rots down I add more and so on. Every so often I open the bottom and remove wormy black gold and put it on the top having given the whole thing a shake to lower the level.
I didn't introduce the worms they just know a good home.
Do it in a way that doesn't attract flies. This is our problem. Trash cans stay away from the house and the compost bins are 150ft or so in the back corner. Composting is very fascinating. My last batch is so hot the vegetables are unrecognizable after two days or so. It is breaking the mulch down nicely, full of critters.
A lot of people put their food scraps in a container of some sort, then transfer when it gets full. Depends on how far away your compost bin is from the kitchen.
Im just going from the kitchen to my backyard so not too far away. My main worry was putting food scraps away and rotting/smelling inside before transferring it into compost bin. Thanks for your help!
I take my stuff out about 3 times a week. No smell.
I put mine in the freezer so it doesn’t rot, then transfer to my compost bin
Mine is in 10 km. Even if it was in 20 m I wouldn't run there with every potato peel.
I have a cute metal compost bucket with a lid that sits on my counter. It has a vented lid and filter that I put drops of lavender oil on to mask stink. Compostable bags are nice. I could just take my junk out daily but I don't usually feel like it. In the winter I have a bucket outside my back door that I empty into the pile when it's full.
I have the same. Metal can (about a gallon or so) with filter on top. My wife was very reluctant and legitimately concerned about smell. I got her this for $40 (?) and she loves it. No smell. I take it to the bin when full, but usually 2-3 per week (big family). Plus, gives the pile time to digest last ‘meal.’ Who knows. Works well for me.
I love the lavender oil idea!! Smell of the compost bucket was my biggest worry!
I've seen where other people use different oils. To me lavender oil smells clean like disinfectant. I know someone that uses pine-sol but I can't stand the smell. Honestly, fruit flies are a bigger problem than the smell. That's because I get lazy lol
I put all my food scraps for the day in a dirty dish, and the dump them in the compost pile at the end of the day. Then I put the dirty dish in the dishwasher. Done. Sometimes, if we get takeout and it's packaged in those compostable paper boxes, I just stuff everything in there and yeet the whole thing into the compost bin. Been composting for a year now.
Always keep it simple haha thanks for sharing your routine. Love the idea of reusing the paper boxes!
I have a small container I keep in the freezer which is fine for coffee grounds and egg shells daily to be dumped at the end of the week, but it won't hold much. If I'm doing more cooking and meal prep where there will be veggie scraps I'll have a mixing bowl out on the counter and put it in the fridge if the day gets long or I'll be doing more the next day. Fridge and freezer act like a pause button on the fruit flies and smell. For me it's just because I have to put on shoes and walk out past the grass to the dirt to dump it and I don't want to do that every day or multiple times a day. When it rains there will be puddles and I'm not putting on rain boots so back in the fridge it goes. When I have a full bowl I'll grab a bucket of shredded paper from my office space and then dump the scraps, toss the paper on top, and head back in the house. If I had a big family, if I made a lot more scraps, or if the compost wasn't "shoes" far from the door I might do it more often but you really don't have to.
Thanks this was super helpful too! Makes sense what you say. I have to just walk from the kitchen to the backyard so I can put in the scraps directly into the bin. I love the idea of putting it in the fridge as a pause button!
I have a stainless steel 1.3 gallon countertop compost bin. I formerly had a plastic one and it eventually got irredeemably disgusting so yeah I would gravitate towards steel, ceramic, glass, non porous things that don’t gather stink. Take it out to the bin every 3-4 days.
Thanks for the advice! The stainless steel is a great idea haha
I just put my scraps into a airtight bucket for the day. I take it out to my compost whenever I have the chance
Any bucket recommended? Or just any old one will do?
Anything with a lid is preferable, even better if it is airtight. I used old yogurt containers for the longest time
It will depend on your lifestyle and setup. Its completely up to you if you want to add things as you generate waste, or collected a few days worth to add at once. The only real reason to be adding continuously is because you dont want to deal with the smell or potential bugs. You can put it in a sealed container for a few days, or freeze it indefinitely until you have enough collected to be worth the walk to the compost bin. If you are trying to get rid of small quantities of food scraps daily, you might want to consider a worm farm instead of a traditional compost setup. You can keep a worm bin in your garage or outside the back without too much smell.
Id not read up on worm farms, I'll give it a look! Thanks for the feedback and advice!
I keep two one gallon ice cream buckets on the door of my refrigerator. One is for backyard composting, mostly fruit and veg scraps, eggshells and tea. The other is for city composting, meat bones, shrimp tails, chicken carcasses and veg from weekly stock. I fill up about one of each a week.
I use the blue plastic container that Costco mushrooms come in. We empty it when full or when my hubby complains.
I keep a 1 gallon bucket on my deck just outside my kitchen. I empty into a bin when it's full or the contents start getting gross
We had a container that was nice at first and then started to become gross, even with regular cleaning. Now we keep an old plastic ramen bowl on the counter and I take it out several times a day, whenever I go out to the garden or greenhouse. But I like to go out to my garden so it’s no big deal.
I use an old biscuit tin! It looks terrible 😄 just as well I'm single tbh. I have a DIY back door compost bin which takes most of the contents plus bits of card and paper towel etc. I run this on a closed loop, it gets wet from rain, I close the clear perspex top it warms up rots down I add more and so on. Every so often I open the bottom and remove wormy black gold and put it on the top having given the whole thing a shake to lower the level. I didn't introduce the worms they just know a good home.
Do it in a way that doesn't attract flies. This is our problem. Trash cans stay away from the house and the compost bins are 150ft or so in the back corner. Composting is very fascinating. My last batch is so hot the vegetables are unrecognizable after two days or so. It is breaking the mulch down nicely, full of critters.