Advice for countertop scrap receiver, compost bucket

We had been using a sorta generic kitchen conatiner for scraps that eventually go to our compost tunbler. But it was enameled, got dented and stained and started rusting a little.

Just wondering what other people use or recommend. Of course the more convenient and - um - not ugly, the better!

I'd like to avoid those paper liners - its like throwing away 15-20 cents each time.


Carl

Carl, I use a plastic pail with a cover (no paper liners) that I keep under the kitchen sink. I ordered it from Gardens Alive. It's billed as "no-odor," and this is true, if you use the little carbon filters that come with it. ( I do). I've also had periods when I forgot to order the filters, and just washing it out well whenever I emptied it also works to keep odors down.

http://www.gardeners.com/Odor-Free+Compost+Pail/30-708,default,pd.html?SC=XNET8002

I use a 5 gal plastic bucket with a lid under the kitchen sink. We dump about every other day, so it's not an issue.

We get the big square clear plastic container of animal crackers from Sam's Club/Costco. It has a screw top lid and a wide mouth. And it holds a LOT. And, I can fill it up and have yet to have any offensive odors escape from it. I actually keep it till the scraps break down to a liquidy mush. This is what I'd get if I processed them in a blender. I'll need to look for one at the resale shop. Pouring in a slush makes the worms belly up to the smorgasbord quicker. They don't have to wait for the breakdown.

we have a small pail with lid that comes with our garbage service (BFI) they actually want us to fill it and then put it out with the garbage for recycling LOL! HA! not at this house! We also keep it under the sink. It is small though, so fills up quickly. I have often thought of getting something bigger, our family of 9 definitely needs it, and so do my beds! LOL! I'll keep watching this post to see what others use. I think a five gallon bucket would be too big and not fit under my sink ;-(

Adding a little carbon, like maybe a little shredded paper, should help to minimize the odor.

Karen

I also use a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. I also use bokashi and that keeps down odor and bugs.

katiebear

I ended up buying a used plastic pail with the carbon filter as mentioned by CCG in above post.(found it on Ebay and saved a few bucks) I mounted it on the inside of the under-sink cabinet door.It hangs on a coupla screws and just lifts off. No counterspace is lost and it is very convenient to open the door when prepping fruits/vegetables etc. So far, I'm emptying it 2 times a week and no smell. I suspect it could go longer easily.

Carl

I'm using Bokashi kitchen composting - but I've only been into it a month. So far no bad smells and everything seems to be working as advertised.

Mary

I use a 1/2G ice cream container on the kitchen counter and empty it into the bokashi bin every day. I thought about buying a nice crock from gardeners supply but then decided that if I just use a small open container I am more likely to empty it more often. If I'm dumping wetter scraps into it I'll often throw in some torn up junk mail or a used kitchen towel to absorb the moisture.

I just bought the nice looking metal compost bucket from Lee Valley. I also got the bio degradeable bads. you can throw then right in the compost heap.

As the weather get warmer it seems that the container on sink is a bit more difficult to manage. I have one with a carbon filter that works fine if I dump to compost piles weekly. Washing out the carbon filter does not seem to adversly mess up the system. I got eggs in the filter once. A handy trip to the oven broke that cycle. Giving egg shells a minute in the radar oven does a number of good things including smell reduction. A small hand full of sugar works wonders too. Weekly dumps are the best management.

That's my post and I'm sticking to it. :) If your sink grinder gets to stinking a hand full of sugar is as good a cure as any.

If I was using the oven or microwave anyway - I might consider cooking the eggshells along with something else.. But to use the energy solely for eggshells seems a waste. I'd just take the compost bucket out a little sooner if I thought the eggshells were gonna be a problem.


Carl

If you use bokashi you can compost meat and dairy stuff and you don't get the bad smells or bugs.

katiebear

Doc - you are a prize! =:0)

I went to goodwill and got an expensive looking Stainless Steel Flour container for counter top for 1.00 and it has a clear lid.

Carbs = sugar. This feeds the total bacterial community. After having dinner the wrestle about with each other. Always the good ends up whooping the bad providing dinner was good, trust was total and patience to watch and lear how it works was a factor.

The beer and coke baloney = carbs = sugar = molasses. The latter two are the least expensive to use.

Rotting = conversion to humus = more but different bacterial and fungi conversions = humic acids = even more specialized good bacterial break downs in the root zone = food the plant can eat. All organic materials that rot get there. The only difference is time and human management of named systems or processes.

The same breakdown goes on any place organic matter accumulates. If it stinks it is some form of anaerobic condition either short of oxygen, food, or some combination of both for the proper bacterial ballence.

docgipe, anaerobic won't stink if you innoculate it with bokashi or EM.

I use a 5 gallon contrators bucket with airtight lid. We fill it with peelings, stems and kitchen scraps in about a week, unless I'm not home to cook.
I have plastic drinking glass on the counter to hold tea bags/leaves and small stuff that accumulates between meal preps, then dump into the bigger bucket.
The big bucket gets emptied into a tray on the Wriggly Wranch after it ferments for two weeks. I have three buckets in rotation. The worms love it.

If you want to ferment it you need to keep it tightly closed. I've been drenching the compost bins at the community garden with an EM solution from time to time to keep the smell down. (Sometimes they build the BioStacks in such a way as to create a methane generator.) Sptizing the litter box with AEM helps with odors in many places that are open

I use plastic bin with a two-sided fold down lid - kept on the back porch. I put a little garden soil on the bottom and then you don't get as much stinky slush and it's easier to dump onto the compost heap.

I use a basic kitchen trashcan and I usually shred my bills and other food container boxes from cereal and tv dinners and such. I'll start the can with some shredded stuff and then load coffee grounds, tea bags and food scraps in as I go and add more shredded paper and kind of layer it up till it gets about 3/4ths full and then dump it about once or twice a week, depending on how much food stuff has gone in. It works well and I just hose out the trash can while I'm watering down the pile. I've found that if you put a lid on the can it only stinks worse. The paper absorbs the liquid and the liquid starts breaking down the paper in advance..so it's like mini-composting in the house. We've also cut our trash to the dump in half doing this.

Wolf, that's sort of what I do, too. We installed a 5" hole in the countertop near the coffee maker with a PVC pipe the goes to the cabinet below where there is a small waiting trashcan. All coffee filters, shredded junk mail, used paper towels, napkins, egg shells and stuff I figure won't stink in 5-7 days goes in there. (The other things I think will stink go in a cottage cheese container or coffee can with a lid)

Suzy