I had a reader email the other day and ask where I keep my compost bin. I’ve always kept mine under the kitchen sink in the past but I stumbled upon this fascinating article when I went to research where other people keep them.
Apparently the location of the bin matters A LOT when it comes to increasing the amount composted.
There was a recent study done by researchers the University of British Columbia that showed placing a compost bin within 5 feet of the front door increased composting rates by 141 percent.
I’m not sure I could handle that, even if it encourages the reduction of food waste! Keeping the bin under the sink in the kitchen makes more sense to me because it’s where I prepare our food. In this case, though, the bins were outside the house within 5 feet. I could probably handle that if I lived in an apartment building depending on what the setup was like. That’s where they did the study.
Compost and recycling bins were placed around high-density residential buildings in three locations: the garbage disposal area, at the bottom of the elevator, and just outside the doors of individual suites.
The best results were seen when a compost bin was placed within 5 ft from a door. It’s not surprising given that we are a society that thrives on convenience.
Where is your compost bin located? Do you think you would be more likely to compost if you relocated it? Do you think they’re onto something?
~Mavis
New to composting? Check out my post on Composting for the Home Gardener.
Chellie says
I keep mine in the freezer. I don’t like having the scraps starting to compost before I get them outside so I keep them in a brown paper lunch bag in the freezer. I toss the whole bag or bags in my pile when I get around to it.
Kimberly says
Love this idea, thank you!
Alison says
Me too! I got so sick of fruit flies!
Alice says
Freezer for me too.
Katherine says
I use bags in the freezer too. I’ve used other methods but I hate the fruit flies and how messy things can be.
Leslie says
I assumed “bin” referred to your outdoor composting. Front door surprises me. I’ve tried bins twice, and both times, they were just rat feeders.
Sab Edwards says
LOL and here I thought the link was going to tell me to move it to full shade or something … yep, people like convenience ..mines out back, I literally had to shovel a walkway to get to it the last week when we had that snow dumped on us…its in what we refer to as the “pet cemetery “
Kim in Milwaukee says
My kitchen scraps go in a container on the sink. That gets dumped into the bins out back by the trash cans when it’s full. It’s just a matter of habit, not convenience.
Carrie says
I also keep mine in the freezer. I reuse a plastic lettuce container and when it falls apart after a few months I recycle it. Before my boss clued me in on using the freezer I kept it under the sink and even though I took it out every week it would start to stink and get moldy.
My compost pile is in the backyard so it would make more sense to keep the bin close to the back door, which happens to be my kitchen door and is 8 feet from the fridge.
I think the act of composting is more of a mindset than convenience. I want compost as my garden fertilizer and I want to reduce emissions in the landfill. It is more convenient to throw it in the trash but once you establish the habit it becomes second nature.
The study sounds like an apartment building compost system. It would make sense to have a large compost bin close to the entrance so tenants will compost their scraps. If its hidden 100 feet away from the building by the treeline no one will notice it nor would they want to carry their scraps over there.
Mavis Butterfield says
I love the freezer idea!
Lacy says
My compost bin is in my back yard but I keep a plastic container on the end of my kitchen counter where I put my scraps until it’s full, then I take it and dump it out back. It’s definitely a mindset thing and it pains me to go to someone else’s house and see what all food scraps they throw away.
Peggy says
My compost pile right now is in our backyard at the end of our driveway, however my composting style is rather unconventional. Right now, I have about 5 very large planter containers, the kind you typically plant a container veggie in, that I am placing my kitchen scraps layered with some straw and dirt layers. There’s no odor what so ever, and it’ amazing how quickly food breaks down when you layer your compost like this. Also, during this past winter, I placed my composter outside my front door next to my porch and placed pine boughs in front and on the side and weathered wood on top. You could probably tell it was a composter, but it looked a bit better (maybe, my husband wasn’t happy about it, but…). That’s only for winter, what’s in that, I’ll be spreading in my front flower/veggie/herb beds this or next week. I’ll do this again next winter but will try a little different set up, as in using weathered wood surround to disguise the compost bin all but the top. I’m in southwest PA, and it gets cold, icy, rather windy, and snowy here, and it’s practical to do it this way in the winter. In the other times of year other than early spring also, I’m more a Ruth Stout composter, I like to side dress and cover food scraps to break down to benefit my plants, but I’m lucky to have a farm garden also and this approach works much better at the farm. Close to the house, I use the finished black gold. 🙂
Now for the kitchen, I use the stainless steel composting bin you had on the blog yesterday. I do enough composting, especially through the gardening months since I preserve anything I can that I ordered another one yesterday. I like to have one collecting and one clean and or ‘airing out’ for a day after emptying, I think that’s good for the charcoal filters to give them a little air. 🙂
And lastly, an Irishman can never tell a short story. 🙂 My maiden name is Clancy. 🙂
Laurie Lasala-Tuttle says
Love your story & helpful info Peggy!
Julie P says
My compost bin is just outside the back door. It’s a lidded handled quite large container which I then empty into the composter down the garden situated in full sun I have 5 maybe six large bins down the garden always got at least one or two ready to go, one nearly there and two or three in various stages.. I also provided my neighbour with a bin outside her front door as she doesn’t need compost but didn’t want to waste her vegetable scraps. I pop over once or twice a week and empty it, wash it out and return it to her.
Katrina says
In the winter, I keep a metal “tea pot” bin on my kitchen counter. Directly outside my side door, I have my winter 40 gallon bin that I empty it into. For summer, I move to a smaller bin that I hang on my fence directly outside my back door (no flies in the house!) and then that (and the winter compost bin) get moved to behind my garage where I have several areas bins: one formal covered bin and a pallet open bin for larger garden debris.
Linda says
I like the idea of an interim bin hanging on the fence. My main composter is outside of the dogs’ fenced area off the back door, and I have a small bin in the kitchen. However, because my dogs are “idiots” (I love them) and cause such a ruckus when I leave without them, I hate to go to the main composter unless I’m leaving for a while. The interim composter would solve that issue and stay out of dogs’ reach. I’m still a bit worried about attracting bears to the dog yard. 🙁
Cindi says
We have an active bear population here (can’t have bird feeders out in the summer), but I’ve only had one bear try to get into my compost bin. I scared it away by banging pot lids together. Now I sprinkle about a half a cup of ammonia over the bin once a week and it seems to do the trick. And I figure the ammonia will help break things down faster.
Cathy says
I keep a small stainless steel bowl next to the sink, so all compostable items get dropped in easily. We empty the bowl into the backyard compost pile 1-2 times per day.
I thought through this scenario with many different options and landed on this method due to its simplicity. It’s nice to just dump items into the bowl when I have sticky hands; no bin lid to mess with or cabinet door to open. My family and I are really good at dumping all compostable items in our backyard bin very frequently, so we don’t have a yucky mess on the kitchen counter at all!
Earlene says
I’m with you, next to the sink and it gets dumped 2 x a week. It’s jus two of us and we don’t have much waste except for coffee grounds, egg shells and veggie scraps.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Count me as another that keeps a container at the sink prep area. Once it is full, we dump the open, filled container into the compost bin that is in our backyard, about 15 feet from our garage door. We usually dump it daily or every other day depending upon how much chopping and scraps we’ve generated. Works well for us.
Lolly says
I just use a plastic gladware container on the counter, and our fruit and veggie scraps go in it. It goes out every day or two. We used to toss it out back….out the kitchen door, at the treeline….when the chickens were free ranged, and the dogs and chickens pigged out on all the yumminess…together. But now we have a large coop, and the scraps get tossed in there. Some go to the pig….but he’s a mini pig pet, and not bacon, so he doesn’t need a ton of scraps….the chickens do….cause they give us eggs and need the fresh veggies!
Carrie says
I give most of my scraps to the chickens as well. I do compost the parts they won’t eat like potato peels, carrots and citrus and avocados.
Melissa says
We keep a big yogurt container by the kitchen sink to hold our daily scraps. Our actual compost bin is right off our back deck. But Once the lid freezes shut we stop composting until spring.
Meg C says
We live in a med. city with relatively snall yards (smaller than the acre of lawn grass I mowed growing up).
I keep my meal prep compost bucket/bowl on the counter & empty as neededinto our large compost bin outside. Our large compost bin is across the driveway.
I do have it there to make it convenient-it’s on my direct path to the car in the garage. Often, our compost is dumped into the bin as we’re leaving to go someplace.
Marcia says
We keep a bowl on the counter, and when it’s full we take it to the bin, which is about 6 ft out our back door. And it’s true. When it was in the back corner of the yard, we never went up there. I can go barefoot out the back door (it’s flagstone).
Honestly, both sides of our bin are full now.
E in Upstate NY says
At our house on the other side of town, kept a container right next to the sink for all kitchen scraps and coffee grounds but not egg shells. Had a separate container for that. Kitchen scrap would be dumped into compost bin behind the garage usually daily or more often if canning.
The egg shells, I’d crunch down and while watching the telly, I’d finger crush them to a fine grade. Use this fine ground shell for top dressing the garden, enhancing the dirt mix and helping mark the seeds.
It hurt when we moved to current location and EVERYTHING gets tossed. At the beginning it was really hard to throw egg shells in the trash. But this new location is so small and professionally landscaped without current room for a compost bin. Come this summer, that should change.
Linda Sand says
I suspect the bins in the survey are the ones the kitchen bins get dumped into. My favorite was a guy who put a stockpot on the stove when he started to cook. All the inedible parts of the food (except potato peels) went immediately into the stock pot for making broth. Only when the broth was done and the veggies got strained out were they put into the compost bin.
Linda says
Does anyone have an issue with bears? I know we are warned not to keep kitchen trash and bird feeders near the house because of the bears.
Kimberly says
I use an old ice cream bucket on my counter and it gets taken out every other day to the compost pile in the back yard.
Linda says
We put our compost in our used Melitta coffee filter. We empty it into our compost bin outside each day. If I am doing a big cooking day and have more compost than our used coffee filter can handle I will use a garbage bowl that I empty.
Jennifer says
I keep mine on the kitchen counter, and in the summer we empty it every day or every other day to avoid fruit flies.
I am surethat if the research was in Canada or in the UK, that the word “bin” indeed refers to a dumpster, not a little container in the kitchen. If I didn’t have a container in the kitchen, it would definitely be important to have the dumpster/bin conveniently located for the ladies in the fam.
Patty P says
We have a stainless steel bowl on one side of the sink that we can immediately put food scraps into. Once that’s full it moves to a galvanized bucket with a lid on it that sits on the back porch. The lid is important for us because the chickens found out about the previous bucket (with no lid) and came to the buffet everyday and made a mess (the dog also enjoyed it). Once that’s full I move it out to the big pile that we have out by the garden. This pile has the food scraps, the garden scraps/old dead plants, and the stall clean outs in it. We use this pile for the garden each fall and plant the garlic for the next year in it’s footprint (essentially moving the pile a bit each year to accommodate the garlic, which grows really well where the compost has sat for the year). Not convenient by any means, but it works really well with us for the amount we compost.
Fifitr says
We have a container on the countertop near the sink that gets emptied every day or every other day into one of the compost bays at the bottom of our garden. It’s quite a long walk which is why I gave the task of ensuring it gets emptied, along with all the other bins, to my husband. He’s kind of anal and just does it automatically as part of his daily routine, whereas I know I would keep jamming more and more waste into the container to avoid the trip down the garden if it was cold, windy, dark etc. Plus I’m lazy!
Laurie Lasala-Tuttle says
Great question Mavis! Everyone’s answers have been quite helpful!
Tammy says
I would so not want a compost bin 5 feet outside my door! I know they aren’t supposed to smell when you get the ratios of materials right, but let’s face it – that doesn’t always happen! Our compost bins are at the back of our yard, nice and far from our house!
As for where I keep it inside, I have a stainless steel compost bucket that I keep on the counter right by the sink. I don’t have space for it under my sink, otherwise I’d keep it there. It has a lid that was designed to have charcoal filters in it but I haven’t ever bought charcoal filters for it. In the summer I make sure to take it out once a day.