We have nearly got to the decorating stage on our new kitchen and are about to start moving things in from the temporary kitchen.
One problem we’ve always had is with kitchen compost bins, where we collect some kitchen waste prior to taking it to the bottom of the garden every few days to put on the compost heap. We’ve used a variety of different types in the past, some more practical than others but
one major problem always remains.
If I am emptying tea leaves, or coffee grounds, into the container something always spills down the side or misses entirely. This has resulted in a permanent set of stains on the base of the kitchen cupboard in which we have kept it.
What do other people do? Less of a problem with teabags, obviously, but there is always something that misses the container. Are you an assiduously clean person who wipes up every spill and cleans the sides and bottom of the container each time? Do you keep in on a tray or something and priodically clean that? Does yours sit in a cupboard or on the worktop?
We have a smallish plastic bowl with a lid. It’s big enough for 1 day’s compost offering (peels, t-bags etc) . It sits on the worksurface beside the sink, where it’s ideal for scraping leftovers from dirty plates prior to washing up.
Seems a sensible idea @stella . Our problem also is that the kitchen is minuscule so no real space on the worktop and we’d prefer not to have to go down the garden every day regardless of the Normandy rain. Perhaps having an outdoor compost bin closer to the house so less arduous in the winter…
I use a 5 litre pedal operated rubbish bin (with a plastic bag liner) that sits under the kitchen window sill. Manage to get most stuff in it but occasionally there are escapees that may or may not get dealt with straight away . If doing something with a lot of waste then it goes into a bowl/colander and straight to the compot bin
Like Stella, we have a couple of metal bowls that the peelings, melon skins, and other remains of veg/fruit go into, along with a healthy amount of water - especially in the dry weather. I take the bowls to the compost heap when full, and dig into an area of the heap with a garden fork, then pop the contents into the hole and cover it all with soil or grass cuttings or whatever is to hand. We’re careful to bury sweet stuff so as not to attract those pesky wasps and frelons, given our experience of anaphylactic shock.
Great idea if our kitchen was a bit bigger - I’ll post pics soon but there’s no floor space for a bin (Still haven’t worked out quite how we’ll handle other waste )
I’m impressed with your compost heap management, @fleur. We tend to have mosre of a problem with wet rather than dry, being further north , but it sounds like an interesting approach, burying new stuff…
We bought 2 bins last year that have hangers so they hang above the worktop and the other on the wall. One was for chooks scaps (no more we lost our whole flock to a fox this week thanks to the 19 year old promising to lick them up and forgetting ). It has been working we’ll, the are rectangular so easy to scrape into, they are smooth so really easy to rinse out each empty. As you know er don’t have much eotktop either so hanging has always been what we’ve done. Before we had s cute enamel compost bin, with a filter in the lid. Great in winter but in summer due to the holes it was too easy for fruit fly to get in. Last winter I got fed up of going down in the rain do put a plastic bin at the back door and emptied into that and just emptied that when full, it was fine in winter but wouldn’t work in summer.
This 3-litre kitchen compost container is similar to what the town hall provided me, to encourage composting. I keep it in the garden just outside my front door adjacent to the kitchen. Easy to clean, swill out in the sink. You can probably get them is different sizes.
Our one is black with London Borough of Islington on it. I think of Jeremy Corbyn as I empty it. But a bit too small for us as fills within a day. It lives under the sink. So thinking of a new system.
We were wondering about that - the particularly good thing about that idea is that spills would end up on the floor and therefore easy to wipe up. Will think about that one, thank you.
I like your bins @toryroo and @Bonzocat . We don’t have any wall space either so couldn’t hang them up but the hinged lid is a much better arrangement than our last two bins, oe ceramic and one plastic, where the lids were separate (and eaily dropped). Not sure I could keep it outside the door though. Given the number of feral cats around I think the contents would be spread over the drive in no time!
I really appreciate these suggestions as it gives me a bit more to consider…
Google “under sink rubbish organisers” and look at the photos - there are some interesting systems, some of which swing out so less likely to cause problems with spillage.
Not true with my bins. If you turn the handle over the other way, the lid locks in place. The manufacturer took rats and cats into account. And I have rats!
)
