Hey all,
In my recent post about popcorn kernels, I had a comment suggest that I could also just put the leftover kernels or stale popcorn to use for compost.
This has been something I’ve been thinking of for a while now. Guilty as charged, I’ve let good food spoil in my fridge while I’ve been figuring out what to do with it. While this has been getting better as I’ve been learning more vegan substitutions as I’m new to being vegan, as well as home cooking in general, I don’t want to throw my food waste in with the garbage as I have been doing for eons now when situations arise where something spoils on me.
My issue is that, while I was taught how composting works in school, they only ever taught us how to do so if we lived in a detached home that had a backyard. I have always lived in apartment buildings, and currently am living on a second floor apartment unit. While my city does allow for people to separate food waste from other garbage and recycling, and even encourages it, my current building does not have a designated area for food waste.
What options are available to me when it comes to disposing of food waste so that in the end, my waste isn’t quite “waste”? I should also likely add that I live in an area with a colder climate where winter (which is coming up soon here) often hits -30 C.
Thanks in advance!
You should check to see if your city, county, (or however you handle local government demarcation) has a composting program of some kind.
I live in an apartment and I’m able to drop off my compost at designated composting spots provided by the city on the weekend.
You may also have a composting organization or a local community garden that composts that will happily take your scraps to add to their larger composting pile.
My main concern with that option is transport. Since I don’t drive and don’t plan on getting a license, I’d likely have to take the bus, and I would hate to disturb others with the smell of rotten food and/or food scraps.
That’s a fair concern, but if you keep it in a sealed plastic bin (a 5 qt is enough for 2 people for 1-2 weeks in my experience) you shouldn’t have any odor issues. We store ours in the fridge because there’s not enough room in the freezer, but if you have more freezer space than fridge this should be doubly true since all the food scraps will be frozen until you drop them off.
I only have to carry mine to the bins provided by the city outside my apartment, but shoving it in a bag or backpack would be doable if it’s worth it to you.
There are compostable bags you can buy (Amazon warning). My county organics recycling program gives out ones that are very similar to the linked, they work quite well. They do tend to fall apart if you leave them too long, but as long as they’ve sealed there’s no smell. Keep in mind I’m going on a weekly basis, and just collecting food scraps/napkins/etc. I don’t bother with soil etc.
If you gradually put in vegetable wasts, cardboard paper, and maybe some soil, keep them airy and moist, and turn them often, in the worst case they only have a little bit unpleasant smell in the beginning. One of my compost pot is mostly indoor, it has a smell, but it’s a pleasant smell.