I feel guilty everytime I throw away compost-worthy kitchen scraps and our daily coffee grounds. I'm not a soup maker so I don't need to save onion, carrot and celery tops. I also would rather not spend much for ready-made bins, either ($45 for one that accomodates veggie and such but NO meat, dairy or fish) or $115 for one that accomodates meat, dairy, fish and bones).
I have room under the sink to keep a small kitchen pail. I have unlimited space in the yard and edges of woods to put the outdoor unit.
I am wondering if I can make my own, a smallish one would be a 5 gallon new bucket from the hardware store (with a tight fitting lid) drill some holes in bottom and on sides; or a larger one, maybe a 55 gallon rubbermaid-type garbage can, also with lid, and also drill holes in it. The 'aerating' could be managed by putting them on their sides and rolling them around.
Has anyone made their own composting buckets in this manner?
I am not out for the goal of having wonderful compost for the garden, my main concern is not having so much organic scrap go into landfills. If I get a handful of compost due to this in October, that's kewl
I just started keeping a fertilizer "bin" for coffee grounds and egg shells only inside the house. I put them in one of those plastic Folgers coffee bins. But this is primarily for throwing right on top of my plants, so not sure it would apply to you. I'd love to take your coffee grounds off your hands :P
There's lots of ideas on Pinterest for making your own composters. If you have an account, do a search. I'll post a link if I see anything pop up.
In a nut shell, you use PVC pipes with holes drilled in them, put them into the ground (likely in your garden), put your scraps down the tube, and worms will actually eat the scraps and deposit the compost (their poop!) throughout the garden (in about a 4'x4' area from each pipe I think). So cool! Literally all you have to do is put the scraps down the tube. No turning compost. Then all you'd need is a small bin for inside the house.
It makes me so happy that you're interested in doing this and for the reasons you're doing it. Oh, if you live in a large metro area it's possible there's an industrial composting facility, but there's not too many of those. Just another thought.
Last edited by nonameslob; 04-30-2014 at 02:45 PM.
I've built compost bins from pallets and tea-chests in the past. I've also used the bottom of a broken down shed but this wasn't quite so good. To make good compost (without smell) you should think of it as a fire. It needs air coming from underneath to make it 'burn'. If you have to roll your container around to aerate it, that's an extra thing to do and you might not bother after a while (just guessing) so I'd say build/use something that works without any intervention. (I'm currently using three large plastic bins - free from our council - set on the uneven ground. My main aim is to produce compost for the garden.)
Good luck, Holly! Great plan!! Ask any more questions you like!!!
thank you for the quick responses! knew I could count on 3FC for some help . I will check pinterest!
The worm tubes sound interesting!! I do need to try to keep animals away so I might need to cap/cover something like that. I live in a very rural area, usually no bears but the skunks and raccoons just need a whiff for an invitation
Our area will actually have residential mandatory composting next year, I believe! and regular recycling is mandatory for residents but how I wish businesses, and RESTAURANTS, had mandatory recycling! a whole bunch of residents could barely make a dent compared to restaurant waste.
I'm really glad that at the lodge/restaurant where I work in summer, there is a lady who has a nearby farm, and she gives us 5 gallon buckets and we fill them with fruit/veggie rinds/peelings, coffee grounds, and cast-off bready foods like muffins or toast..she picks the buckets up every few days and feeds her pigs . And what they can't eat, she'll dump on her compost pile. So the business does not generate as much garbage (the dishperson is oh-so-happy that the garbage bags don't have 30 pounds of wet veggie slop in them!) and the pigs are happy, the landfill is not as full
Holly, we've migrated up from a gallon plastic milk jug on the kitchen counter, through a ceramic gallon container (terrible idea - it'll crack when you bang it against the compost bin), to our current gallon stainless steel container. A gallon container lasts about 3-4 days in the winter; we fill it almost daily in the summer. We do no meat or fish; the local varmints will eat through the plastic to get to it.
We dump it outdoors into one of those plastic compost bins you refer to. Our yard is too small to have much of a do-it-yourself version like our friend has out in the suburbs. We stir ours with a spade or some sort of metal tool that we have about. In 12 months it is used as choice soil in the gardens.
Good luck; I think it's neat to reduce garbage to the dump that can re-enter the yard where it's generated.
thank you for the quick responses! knew I could count on 3FC for some help . I will check pinterest!
The worm tubes sound interesting!! I do need to try to keep animals away so I might need to cap/cover something like that. I live in a very rural area, usually no bears but the skunks and raccoons just need a whiff for an invitation
They need to be capped anyway, so shouldn't be an issue
Where I live in Los Angeles we have 3 cans, a black can for regular garbage, a blue can for recyclables and a green can for yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, etc). It doesn't help my garden, but the simple solution here is to put compostables into the yard waste container. I didn't even think of this until I took a course on "green" living.
just an update, I decided to start really, really small and we have a plastic Folger's coffee can (big, wide mouth) on the kitchen counter, for the daily coffee grounds and occasional egg shells and veggie scraps. I dump that into a 5 gallon bucket that is outside, that has a big crack on the bottom, and a heavy flat piece of slate on top. I also dump the vacuum cleaner dirt in there. When it gets full, i will have to decide what to do with it but for now, the weight of the stuff, plus rain, seems to be keeping it rather low.
Its unbelievable how much kitchen waste you can have with only two people in a household. My husband and I have 2 -25 gallon barrells and 1 IBC tote Carrier (cut in half) where we just throw things in,put in dry leaves and other yard waste and keep swishing it around with a hoe. Additionally, we pick up coffee grounds from Starbucks each week as they have a 'grounds for your garden' recycle program which we add to our compost bins. As we live in Florida, we will be using it next growing season which is around late September!
well it's been almost 5 months since I started my little composting effort, and it is pretty kewl that we have composted every coffee filter (one daily and sometimes 2) and eggshells, and small veggie scraps religiously! I've only had to dump the bucket twice, boy it really compacts itself well. It was kinda stinky but not too bad because no meat. I'll see how long I can keep it up, in winter.
When I have dumped the buckets, I just dug a deep hole, then covered with soil . no problem with scavengers lurking around, that might be due to our (neutered) male dog who pees everywhere
Do you compost kitchen scraps? advice?
knew I could count on 3FC for some help . I will check pinterest! 
