Hey all, what do you use for storing your food scraps until you bring them to the dump? Also where do you put that container? We’re new to Vermont and I wanna start putting our food scraps into composting!
ETA: thanks for the suggestions! We do have a big freezer in our basement that’s empty so that may be the best solution. We don’t compost in our yard, so bringing things to the transfer station works best for us!
CSWD has (or had) buckets you could pick up for free. I keep a small one in the back of my fridge and empty it every few days. My condo development has trash/recycling/compost pick-up for the whole neighborhood.
I store meat/fat/bone waste outside in a 5 gallon bucket with lid then placed in a metal trash can with a “locking” lid. I haven’t had any issues with bears or such (so far.) Plant based waste goes directly into a compose bin in yard.
Keep a nut jar on the counter for fresh scraps. When full, transfer to leftover plastic bags (bread, grocery, used gallon zip locs) and store that in the freezer until the transfer station is open. Being frozen makes it easy to dump in the town compost bins (and keeps the fruit flies away in the house). I usually go to the transfer station 1-2x a month and gather my frozen bags in a five gallon bucket for easy transportation.
One of the bottom drawers in you refrigerator works pretty good, or a large plastic bag or tupperware in a chest freezer.
I use a compost bag in a bucket that sits in my freezer drawer. When that fills I put it in my basement freezer until dump day.
Not sure where in orange county you are but there is a guy that does food scrap and yard waste pickup. It's $22 a month and he supplies a 5 gallon bucket with a lid that gets cleaned out at every pickup. When it's above freezing there is also sawdust added to the buckets. Plus he'll grab any yard waste as long as it's non invasive and untreated, which has been awesome for leaves and grass clippings. Sells the finished compost as well and delivers it. Plus he just seems like a top notch guy.
Granted, not free like the transfer station drop off, but it has meant I only go to the transfer station every month to six weeks instead of every week. Plus no real issues with smell. Bucket stays outside and I use a counter top container with compostable bags in the kitchen.
Double-check the guidelines at the transfer station, too -- I'm reading all these comments with interest, wondering if it varies by area what you can compost. In Chittenden County, meat, bones, and (within reason) compostable paper like coffee filters can be included.
Why separate the coffee grounds?
The law is a state law, so that's consistent regardless of where you are, but with little enforcement how people do it it's going to vary a lot. The law went into effect July 2020.
If you are a backyard composter, you are allowed to throw meat and bones into the garbage. But otherwise everything else should be going to the compost.
Edit: typos
I use 5 gallon buckets with screw on lids. That keeps the odor and bugs at bay.. We generate 1 to 1.5 of these buckets every week and take them to the dump every 2-3 weeks. They are pretty gross to clean out after dumping, but it's not unbearable
Chinese food containers in the spare freezer along with a compost bag if we need (company, holidays, long stretches between dump visits, etc.).
Just too much acidity
8valvegrowl t1_iy3rusk wrote
Most of my food waste sits in a compost container on my counter, except coffee grounds, I keep those separate. Once or twice I week I take the bucket/grounds off the counter and drop them into my outside compost barrel. Or I throw the grounds into the woods if I have too many grounds in the barrel at the time (which is often). Sometimes I drop everything down in my outhouse if the barrel is getting too full.