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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Composting in the Kitchen

  Some of you may remember a past post about my new outdoor compost bin I received earlier this fall. I'm glad to report that it's in use now and fulfilling its purpose. I've been adding lots of leaves, grass clippings and other garden waste to it. While it doesn't break down and form compost as quickly in the winter months as it would in warmer weather, I keep it stirred up so hopefully by spring I'll have a wheelbarrow load  or two of fresh compost to spread around.

While things were good outside, I was being somewhat fed up with the amount of compostable (is that a word?) stuff we were throwing out in the kitchen; so I decided to do something about it . Just recently I purchased (shown below) a kitchen compost pail. This indoor compost pail is small enough (7 qts) to sit on the counter, under the counter or hang inside a cabinet door. It includes an activated charcoal filter in the lid to absorb any odors that may be present.

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I suppose you could use anything for holding food scraps but this little bucket seems perfect in every way. It's light and small, thus saving kitchen counter space and holds just enough. And to make things convenient I purchased the "bio" trash bags to go with it. These bags keep the pail clean inside and when your ready to empty your scraps you can throw it all into the compost bin - bag and all! These bio-bags are made from vegetable oil and cornstarch and begin to break down at about the same rate as other vegetable material, leaving no harmful chemicals or residues.

I purchased this compost pail from Lee Valley (currently my favorite garden supply co). It comes in a couple different sizes. Click on the photo to learn further details.

Compost pails

 

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4 comments:

Kim said...

I admire you for your dedication. I too have thought about composting, but then they said you have to shred everything to make it break down better and I stopped. I am too lazy to shred leaves, food, etc. I would buy the bin and never use it. I bet your composte is going to be lovely in the summer for your garden.

Dave said...

That little compost container is a great idea. We don't use anything inside but have an old 5 gallon nursery pot that we drop it all into just outside the door. When it gets full we take it to the backyard bin.

Kallen305,

Everything breaks down in time. You don't have to shred anything, it just makes it go faster.

Alan Pulley said...

Hi Kallen,

Dave is right, you don't have to shred anything before dumping in the compost pile. A lot of web sites & books try to make composting sound complicated, but really it's not. The only thing that I do is stir my pile with a pitch fork every week or so. It will break down in time.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alan. Composting is super easy and also good for the environment. As well as your garden. These little kitchen bins are awesome. I am going to get one.