Not of the garden variety: Indoor composters and compost collectors
Although primarily an outdoors affairs, let's not forget that composting often starts in the kitchen with a pail for storing last night's leftover spaghetti (but hold the meatballs).
Tue, Aug 09 2011 at 5:10 PM EST
Image: Steven Depolo/Flickr Hello there and welcome to part two of a compost-crazy, two-part edition of “Not of the garden variety," a weekly, product-centric series that's all about exceptional, agrarian-minded outdoor living accessories and odds and ends — items for in and around the garden that you won't find in the backyards of every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Yesterday, for part one, I rounded up a few standout outdoor composters ranging from worm bins to tumblers to composter/rain barrel hybrids. Whether you're a grizzled compost veteran or a relative newbie when it comes to transforming organic household waste into "black gold," they're all products worthy of a home in your backyard or garden.
However, let's not forget that composting isn't strictly an outdoors affair. Unless you're only throwing biodegradable yard waste into an outdoor composting bin or tumbler, a healthy heap o' compost usually starts inside in the kitchen with food scraps. And you need an attractive countertop vessel to collect and store all those banana peels, egg shells, coffee grounds, and pizza crusts in, right? Right. Below you'll find a few space-efficient, stink-resistant compost pails/collectors to toss your compostable vittles in, helping to start the decomposition process before you transfer your waste into a more spacious outdoor bin or a compost drop-off site. And for urbanites with little or no outdoor composting space, I've also included dedicated indoor composting systems of the both electric and non-electric variety.
Do you have personal experience with any of the below compost collectors? What's worked best for you? Ceramic? Stainless steel? And have you experimented with full-on indoor composting with electric composters from NatureMill? Have any kitchen composting tips and tidbits you'd like to share? Tell me about them in the comments section. And be sure to click here for anything and everything compost-related on MNN.
Kitchen Compost Crock @ Gardener's Supply Company ($29.99)
Haws Kitchen Composter - Sage @ Terrain ($58)
NatureMill Plus Edition Home Composter @ Green Depot ($249.99)
Bokashi Kitchen Composter Kit @ Compost Mania ($59.99)
Mr. Eco Kitchen Compost Collector @ Home Depot (19.98)
Ceramic Rooser Countertop Composter @ Target ($29.99)
simplehuman Compost Pail @ Crate & Barrel ($59.99)
Fuccillo Design Freezer Compost Bin @ A+R Store ($60)
Square Bamboo Compost Pail @ Clean Air Gardening ($39.99)| Previous Post Meet Rip, the world's creepiest environmental PSA spokesperson | Next Post 2011 Solar Decathlon: ENJOY House |
Comments
Ross
05/03/2012 19:19 PM
If you don't want bugs or smell, try a Kitchen Cone. It uses newspaper liners to let food dry out. Just search it, they have a website.
Melissa
08/12/2011 12:25 PM
I've only used the Mr. Eco Kitchen Compost Collector-style indoor compost, and while it worked fine, it wasn't without issues. No matter what type of disinfectant we used, nor how much we cleaned it, we had to keep it outside because it was always full of fruit flies. Mind you, we didn't have an outdoor compost, but used a drop-off point for a local community garden once a week. Might work better if you were dumping it more regularly.
