How would a person go about composting table scraps - and not ending up with a pile of stinky food?

Question

how to compost?

things like left-over food, fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds.

thanks!

Answer 1

1) Cut the scraps as fine as possible.

2) Eliminate all meat, fat, oils, dairy products.

3) Mix the high-nitrogen material you have described, with twice the amount of high-carbon material, such as leaves, wood chips and sawdust. Grass clippings are high-nitrogen too. Tossing in some soil will speed the process.

4) Build a stack about 4' cubed. Wooden pallets make good, cheap sides of the right size. They can be anchored with rebar.

5) Keep the compost damp but not wet.

6) Either be patient or turn the compost every so often.

7) There are a lot of leaflets, booklets, and books on the subject. I even wrote one myself but it's not available outside my township.

Answer 2

to compost, first, you should dig up a big area in your garden, and put a thin layer of left over food,etc., and on top of it, put a thicker layer of soil, and do this procedure respectively till the dug up area fills up. after about 6 months or so, the  things like left-over food, fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds etc. will become compost.

Answer 3

as long as you don't have any meat, fat or dairy in the leftovers you can do a few things with it. One you could start a worm composting bin, the worms eat the food and give you worm castings that are good for your garden. The other options  is to get a composting bin and place the food in there, just remember you will also need to add leaves or straw to keep the balance of green (veggie & Fruit peelings) and brown (leaves & straw) at a 50 50 mix other wise the food in the composter will just get slimy and rot. I give all the meat type leftovers to the dog instead of buying wet dog food. Saves money and they love it. There are lots of great websites on composting and they can help you find what works best for you.

Answer 4

Away from the house dig a hole and cover it with fill dirt...

Answer 5

I disagree with anjana.

Put it in a pile, (maybe about a meter on a side) and layer it with something that has nitrogen, maybe even a bit of fertilizer.  You may also wish to add redworms or something.  Water it a bit, and mix it up every week or so.  Temperature inside the pile should get to over 100 F or so.  Over a period of weeks or months, the stuff should cook down (reduce in volume) to something that looks like good potting soil, and you may get lots of weeds starting to grow in it.

Answer 6

The same way you can compost human p**p or dog p**p and have it not stink.

Composting is easy.

1. Have a composting bin of at least 1x1 cubic meter.

2. Place it over dirt, make sure the sides of the bin have adequate ventilation, and that the bin gets lots of sun.

3. Get filler material. This can be peat moss, hay, sawdust, dried grass clippings, ect. Just make sure its natural and not treated with chemicals.

4. Dig away about 6 inches of dirt at the bottom of the bin. Then place about a foot of filler material. Also line the sides of the bin with filler about 6 inches high. Now you are ready to place waste in the bin.

Now here is the key to NOT MAKING IT STINK:

5. Every time you dump waste into the bin you cover it with filler material. Put enough filler to completely cover the waste This will get rid of the odor. If it smells you didn't put enough filler.

6. Its important to also line the sides of the bin with filler material as it fills up since you want to cover the waste on all sides with filler to eliminate odor and help the composting process.

7. Pour water into the bin once a week or so.

After the bin is filled up leave it alone. It will take about a year to complete the composting process and you will have rich organic soil conditioner that is safe to touch.

For the average family it will take 6 months to a year to fill a bin, most people have about 2 to 3 bins in rotation.

If you place food in the bin you may want to cover the top with chicken wire to prevent animals from getting in there.

There are several methods of composting, but with this one you don't have to turn it, or mix it, or put worms. Just cover it with filler, water it, and leave it alone.

Have you ever seen a pile of leaves smoking, that the leaves composting itself.

Here is a link:

http://ladpw.org/epd/sg/bc.cfm

Heres a container for your food waste:

http://www.composters.com/compost-suppli...

Answer 7

You can go out and buy one of those compost containers from the store, but you really don't need one.

Just take your food scraps (not meat or fatty things, just vegetables and egg shells) and place them on the ground in a place away from any buildings.  Gather some leaves, pine straw, cut grass, etc. and pile on top.  Wet the pile moderately, as it needs to be wet, but not flooded.  If the weather is particularly dry and/or hot, you may need to keep it wet with additional water every day or so.

Leave it like it is for about a week and then turn it (mix it from the bottom to the top).  Wet it again.  You may continue to add scraps whenever you get them, just make sure to always put some plant matter on top of them, otherwise, it will attract squirrels, etc. and they'll eat your compost matter.

Each week, mix the pile from the bottom to the top, for about a month.  After that, it should begin to decompose naturally and in about 3 months you should have your first composted material.

Hope this helps.  Good Luck!!

Answer 8

I add only vegetable waste to a large container filled with dirt and red wiggler worms. They like it warm so it may not be an option if it is too cold.  Other worms probably work also.   It is not stinky at all on the porch but it has attracted rats from the local park so I have to cover it up.

Answer 9

this is the coolest thing I have ever seen

http://www.naturemill.com/howItWorks.htm...

http://howtocompost.org/