Do you compost? Do you want to? What are the things getting in the way of recycling your kitchen scraps and yard wastes?

I do want to, but Bob and I are still negotiating how to do it. The main issue is where to put the items right after we use them.

Dan is not especially happy with my composting, and it's certainly an issue. I have a very nice bin in the kitchen for our food wastes. When It fills I add it to the compost bin outside.

The issue is that he finds it annoying to have to open the lid and add the kitchen wastes to our bucket, rather than just tossing things into the trash. He doesn't like having to make new habits and he doesn't like the smell of the rotting foods when he opens the bucket lid.

It means so much to me, however, that he is starting to be okay with it. In Crestline, it was easy: we just tossed food off the back deck into the forest. Here I am working on having us do it properly, to create nice rich compost instead of just letting things decompose.

Of course, now that we are moving into the RV again, everything is once more changing. We went for a hike today and I told dan that I am going to stick to my guns this time and compost somehow in the RV. He was actually amenable! He suggested creating some kind of compost bin on the platform on the back of the RV bumper. I am very excited he's coming on board with this.

We even discussed the Doggy Dooley idea (decomposing - not composting but breaking down) for dog poops. At this point dog doo is the largest single component of our actual trash. So we are thinking of setting up a system with enzymes in a bucket for that on the RV platform.

If you don't mind my asking, Lisa, what is the main concern with Bob in the composting arena? It's possible a worm bin (vermicomposting) might be the solution for you instead.

OK some funny news. Bob got us a 5 pound plastic container which has a snap-shut lid. It's clear plastic. I thought it was dangerous to have a tight-seal composting container in the kitchen but let him go with it. It's about 8 inches square.

So then a few days later it nearly exploded he he he. It had a giant crack down one side. Bob was baffled. I told him I was waiting for it to happen.

He got us another one, and this time he's put a hole into it. We'll see how it does, if it explodes, or if it smells.

This is just a "holding" area, we have an actual composting pile in the back yard.

lol, that is really funny, lisa! Yeah, loosely fitting lids are what you want...BOOM!

Compost piles create heat. That is how they work.

How is your new kitchen container working for you? How is your outside pile working?

I want to eventually get the kind of container that makes compost 'tea.'

Now I have a place to have a real compost pile. I need more food scraps. I don't eat much. Maybe my neighbors will save me their food scraps...doubtful. Hmmm.

Have you looked into worm composting? I think it could be interesting. We have some friends that are doing it and are pleased with the results so far.

Kathy

I'd love to do worm composting. i've read you can use tires for that and the worms migrate between the tires so you can have worm free areas to remove the castings.

I have a bunch of tires and think it would be fun.

OKay I have my tires stacked four high and the compost is smushed down in them. I have a board on top to keep the rain out of the wheel wells (which would breed skeeters).

I got the tires free at a tire place - he was going to toss them in the landfill anyway. So i saved him money by saving me money. I want to think of more tires uses now. This is fun.

My husband and I compost. We've got a little container in the kitchen that we use to hold compost materials - once that's full we take it out to our composter in the backyard. If the composter is full we have a small black plastic trashcan with a screw-on lid that we dump compost into until our composter has completed it's cycle. The compost then goes directly into our garden. Last year we actually had some cherry tomato plants growing from underneath our composter because some of the seeds from the tomato scraps we had in there didn't break down!! Was pretty funny - we had tomatoes in our garden, tomatoes from our CSA, tomatoes from underneath our composter...

We compost any and everything we can. Veggie scraps, egg shells, paper plates (not the plastic/wax covered ones - but then again, we don't buy those), paper napkins, etc.

What we can't compost and can't recycle gets thrown away - that's maybe a trash bag a week. Maybe.

MW1, that is great that you do so much good with your wastes! I hope more and more people can do what you do.

I like to make a game of how little trash i end up with each week.

Our counter-top composter plastic bin with a hole in it is working quite nicely. It doesn't smell and it's easy to use. Right now it's full, Bob has to go take it out to the main composter unit in the back yard. He's the one who does that.

We definitely are doing a good job of putting all food waste into it - but we need to think more broadly. When we get cardboard pizza boxes we put those on the back porch and then carry them out to the main composter.

I'm sure there's many other things we can compost.

For example - lint. We have a nearly full (small) trash container of lint in the laundry room. I keep wondering if I can do something other than throw it away. I imagine I can compost it yes? But what if it's got rayon and stuff in there?

We have a little fire cauldron on our porch outside that we light up almost every weekend when it's cool outside - even done it with 2 feet of snow outside. We use the lint from our dryer to start fires instead of using newspaper, etc. that can be recycled. Then you won't have to worry about the rayon, etc. that could be in there... that is, if you have a fire pit/cauldron...

Lisa, you can absolutely use lint in the compost. And yes, it also makes great fire starter.

I wrote about the uses of lint when i ran the LivingSimply topic on Bellaonline!

I have been looking for a used shredder to come along at my thrift stores. I just found a good one for $5. I have been saving all my paper to shred and add to the compost. It's greener than recycling, so I wanted to try that.

I shredded two grocery bags of paper and added them to the compost yesterday - they are perfect! Great to layer those after adding food wastes.