How to Recycle your Food Waste Garbage

Add fruit and vegetable peelings, cores and scraps to the compost bin.

As attention turns to living green and recycling, many homeowners naturally look for ways to recycle common households wastes. Kitchen wastes are no exception. Food scraps, including peelings, cores and discarded bits of fruits and vegetables, as well as coffee grinds, egg shells and tea bags, provide the makings for rich compost to improve the soil and provide nutrients for gardens. Adding them to the compost bin instead of throwing them in the trash decreases the burden on landfills while building your soil.

Things You'll Need

• Compost bin
• 2-gallon bucket with lid
• Dish detergent

Instructions

1. Place a large bowl or bucket in the kitchen to collect food scraps. Covered buckets are preferred as they prevent odors and keep the kitchen smelling fresh and clean. Although you can purchase containers designed for collecting kitchen scraps, nearly any container will do.

2. Save all scraps from fruits and vegetables. Leftover cooked vegetables can be added, as long as they are not covered in sauces and do not contain fats.

3. Add items from the refrigerator when you clean out leftovers. Bowls of veggies, discolored fruit or that bunch of limp celery are all suitable for the compost bin. Even vegetables or fruits that have begun to spoil are fine, as long as they were not stored in sauce.

4. Empty your kitchen bucket into the compost bin daily. Make it an after-dinner routine to prevent odors from the compost pail building up in your home.

5. Wash the container in warm, soapy water and rinse to remove soap residue.

Tips & Warnings

• Alternate layers of dry and wet material in your compost bin.

• Turn the compost pile often to speed composting.

• Sprinkle soil over the top of kitchen wastes as you add them to the compost bin to deter small animals.

• If you do not have a compost bin, bury kitchen scraps in the garden by digging a hole to a depth of 12 inches. Add the scraps and cover with soil. These will decompose in the soil, adding organic matter. The time required for scraps to decompose depends on the type of scraps and the soil conditions.

• Avoid adding meats, bones and fatty foods, such as cheese and oils, to the compost bin.

References

• Washington State University Cooperative Extension: Kitchen Waste Composting
• Ohio State University Extension; Composting at Home; Frederick C. Michael, Jr., et al.

Resources

• University of Illinois Extension: Create a Compost Pile