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How can yesterday's table scraps feed hundreds?

04.28.2008

Submitted by tmeronek on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 12:21am.
The Bite:
Of worms, that is. Easy: Compost your organic waste and use the soil for your garden or houseplants for smiles all around.
The Benefits: 
  • Meals, not dumps. A Biter household can keep 500 lb of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn't decompose in landfills).
  • Fine botanical dining. Composting recycles nutrients in your scraps, producing soil that's like a gourmet dinner for your plants.
  • It's as simple as 1-2-3-flora. New in-kitchen compost gadgets make composting easy and isolate the stink, so your house won't smell like a barn. Some cities even offer curbside bin pickup (à la recycling bins).
Personally Speaking: 
Jen gives each of her seven chickens turns in the compost heap while she works in her backyard.
Wanna Try: 
  • Just a few of the items you can compost: bread, cereals, and pastas, coffee grounds and filters, eggshells, fruits and veggies, grass clippings, and most teabags.
  • Check with your garbage company, and see if it offers curbside bins for compost pickup.
  • EnviroCycle Composter - 5-gal composter for your garage or yard; just give it a spin for easy mixing and aerating ($169).
  • Worm Chalet - three-tiered worm-based composter; keep it in your kitchen if you collect the fresh compost from its spigot regularly. Also: worms ($159).
  • Kitchen Compost Crock - nifty, stinkless ceramic pot you can put on your counter or under the sink for collecting compostables until you get around to carting them outdoors ($24).
  • The Complete Compost Gardening Guide - new, easy-does-it guide, including DIY instructions for making your own compost bins ($14).
  • Compost Guide - everything you ever wanted to know about composting, and then some.
  • Compost This - UK site that lets you know what you can and can't compost (aubergine means eggplant, BTW).

Cocktail Fact

A cup of soil can hold as many bacteria as there are people on Earth.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Biters compost 3 lb of kitchen scraps each week, we'll keep the weight of more than 10,000 sanitation workers worth of waste outta landfills every year.

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Harmony2  on March 17, 2009 at 05:25 AM 1
My neighbor has a tom cat, that being said he gives me the containers the cat food comes in. Great 4 putting my kitchen compost in, has a lid, it doesn't go 2 the landfill. I think I will put holes in the bottom of some and use as veggie pots this year, will be easy to move around my yard, I also have 2 55 gallon rainbarrels, that I use 2 water my indoor and outdoor garden, I don't believe in watering grass . I am so N love with Ideal bite.
Gina Watts  on March 26, 2009 at 10:38 AM 2
HI my name is Gina Watts and I am helping my friends with their Garden by giving them our table scraps and they are telling their friends to do the same their kids love to help out too thank you Gina Watts.
Ron  on April 24, 2009 at 04:45 AM 3
Starbucks, at least the one near me, packs up thier used coffee grounds and gives them away. Perfect for any compost pile!!!
Vicki Medley  on April 25, 2009 at 09:36 PM 4
We have been composting the last several years. Remember when the city told us we could no longer use our own garbage cans? We had to use theirs. We had three big heavy duty plastic ones. Well, we didn't throw them away. We took one and drilled holes in it all the way around up and down the sides. It is now our composting receptacle. We throw in a layer of dirt, our veggie and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and egg shells, then a layer of newspaper torn into strips. Next, another layer of dirt, then scraps again, and newspaper. Then,someone with muscles turns it over every couple of weeks. The remaining two garbage cans are used for grass clippings, weeds, etc. when we have too much to put in the regular city receptacle after major cleanups or they hold our plastics, cans, and glass bottles until we take them to a recycling center. Here's just one more idea for a clean plastic garbage can, fill it with earthquake supplies. We did this several years ago. Actually, we need to do another one.
Megan  on July 31, 2009 at 09:43 AM 5
Anyone know if you can wash and reuse the carbon filters used in the small kitchen compost crocks? If not, can i recycle them?
ShaneWatson  on August 12, 2009 at 01:32 AM 6
Here's just one more idea for a clean plastic garbage can, fill it with earthquake supplies. We did this several years ago. Actually, we need to do another one. Online Bachelors degree | Online University | Administration degree
RickyMartin1  on August 12, 2009 at 01:33 AM 7
I am so N love with Ideal bite. Marketing degree | Civil Engineering Diploma
Jason Watson  on September 19, 2009 at 10:08 AM 8
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McCain  on September 30, 2009 at 11:54 PM 10
Fine botanical dining is the best idea for me. Dubai Villas for Sale | Property Management Software
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