Compost from kitchen to pile~what's YOUR system?

[Fairacre]

I'm looking for a better way to manage collecting compostable kitchen scraps to take to the compost pile. There's no room under the sink and I don't want to keep a crock on the counter. The compost pile is too many steps away from the back door to run out with every used tea bag. And it's taken some time to finally get the rest of the family on board with the idea of composting, so I want to keep it easy for them.

I used to keep a small plastic wastebasket with a swinging lid on the floor by the sink. But the lid would get dirty and I would find myself too busy to empty it every day.

Now I'm trying this: I cut a square gallon jug in half to keep in the sink to collect the scraps from each meal's preparation. When I clean the dishes from the meal I will dump those scraps into another gallon jug (cut across the top with a "hinge" left on back so it opens easy but can be re-covered) that can stay in the mop bucket by the door in the mudroom. Then I'll try to be more diligent to take it out & bury it every day.

What do you use to collect & contain your compost from the kitchen to the pile?

 

[buckeye lady]

I use an empty cat litter pail with a lid. It fits nicely under the sink and contains the odor well. We empty the bucket once a week.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I keep 3 containers. One is for anything that the chickens will eat. This goes to them for treats once a day. The second is for anything they don't eat like coffee grounds. This gets brought to the compost pile when full every few days. Because most things that will smell usually go into the chicken container I don't have problems with odors. The third one is for egg shells drying which I then crush and they either go to the chickens or compost pile.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I keep a plastic shopping bag hanging inside the cabinet under the sink. We empty it every day. Usually the kids take it out.

The chickens I had were free ranged, so they would dig juicy bits of tomato and cabbage out and I didn't have to separate it.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I've tried putting them in a gallon ziplock that I keep in the freezer. Then taking it outside when it gets close to full. No smell.

 

[justusnak]

Since we drink LOTS of coffee...we save the plastic "cans" and use them for our compostables....chicken snacks...and feed scoops.

 

[ducks4you]

I don't leave it around. I have to go the barn 2x/day to take care of the chickens and the horses. I have 2-3 bags that go out with me. One bag is for egg shells, orange peels, coffee grounds (with the coffee filter)--this gets dumped in the garden (winter), or gets dumped in the compost pile (summer.) One bag is for chicken treats like stale bread, potato peelings, tops of sweet peppers and the seeds, ANY vegatable parts I don't wanna eat--this gets dumped on the ground/floor of coop for the birds to eat/fight over!
One bag is exclusively for the horses. This has carrot tops/scrapings and bruised apples, primarily. This gets divided amongst my ponies in each bowl with their grain. (They are convinced that I do this because they're special.)
I will admit that I do NOT recycle the plastic grocery bags that I carry these out in. I throw them away in my barn garbage can.
It's a matter of habit, and I do NOT feel too bad if somebody else throws these in the kitchen garbage by mistake. I'll tell you, though, the amount of garbage I throw away keeps getting smaller.
Hope this helps!

 

[lupinfarm]

Ours goes out once a day, we keep a horse water bucket (the plastic type that goes in your stalls lol) on the porch by the front door, and a coffee tin on the counter top and we dump into the bucket all day long, then in the evening when my brother locks up the ducks he dumps the compost into the big pile.

 

[murphysranch]

I found a large Mikasa ceramic cannister at Goodwill, and it sits next to my sink. I empty it every couple of days into my chicken poop 5 gal bucket, which I haul up to the compost pile once a week.

 

[FarmerDenise]

We have 2 small buckets next to the garbage can in the kitchen. One for coffee grounds and filter, these go in a separate compost for starting seedlings, the rest of it goes into the second bucket and usually gets taken out by me every morning, when I go to check on the chickens. Special chicken treats get put in a feed bowl in the evening or during morning cleanup and get taken out to the chickens as part of the kitchen cleanup. Occasionally when we have used lots of eggs, I will put them in a seperate container and take them outside to dry, before I crush them for the chickens.

During bad weather, I keep a 5 gallon bucket by the back door and empty the kitchen compost buckets in them until one of us feels like going out to the compost bin to empty it.
We produce a lot of compost, since we eat a lot of vegies and fruit from the garden.