We use Compost Crew. Our neighborhood rate is lower because of the number of neighbors who’ve signed up.

We collect in small bags in a bin that attaches to our trash can. And then we put the bags in the compost bin provided by the company. Company picks it up once a week. We put it by curb like trash.

How to use compost?

Compost = high quality dirt.

A couple thoughts on this -- if you live in a city with a composting service (they're often run by nonprofits and charge a small fee) that might be the best way to go.

I have a rotating bin. It doesn't create quality compost for my garden, really (although I do use the stuff it makes and I think it at least provides some nitrogen) BUT it does radically reduce the amount of waste we produce because even if the end product isn't amazing, the food waste is converted into it -- it's sort of funny how much stuff goes into creating such a small amount of dirt, but I know that if we were to toss the food waste, it would go into the landfill. If we were to take more care in balancing the greens/browns, I bet the compost would be higher quality but I'm not that motivated.

We use Vetern’s Compost. We buy the 13 gallon compost bags because we compost so much that the green bin isn’t large enough. By the time the end of the week rolls around it has broken down enough to fit into the green bin. You can get the bags on Amazon.

We have the green bin. One thing I've found helpful to rework my habits to use it instead of the garbage is that when I'm cooking or chopping salad, I put a regular mixing bowl next to my prep area. Then as I generate peelings, lettuce ends, onion skins etc, just put in the bowl. Then I can take it out to the green bin during cleanup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just signed up for a MoCo pilot program that will collect food scraps in a green bin. Hopefully they roll it out to the rest of the county.

Link?

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/sws/foodwaste/


I can’t find anything public for the food scraps pilot program that we signed up for. The county contacted us directly and offered us a chance to join the pilot program so it may be very limited right now.

Hopefully more localities will start these programs. I live in Laurel and the city runs a program - we toss all compostable waste in a big garbage can: vegetable scraps, pizza boxes, pet hair, moldy leftovers. The commercial compost process can handle so much more than my backyard bin, so I’ve stopped home composting for the most part.

Anonymous wrote:We use compost crew in MoCo. Note that the monthly price varies a lot based on how many people in your neighborhood do if, so if you can get other neighbors on board it will be a lot cheaper. You get 2 free bags of compost per year which offsets some of the cost.

We keep two cereal bowls on the counter for scraps through the day which makes it easier for the kids (I cover one bowl with the other which keeps flies away). After dinner, it gets emptied into the compost crew bin which we keep on our back stoop—we have had any trouble with animals getting in, as it closes pretty securely. Once a week, it goes on the curb.

We started after a read an article about how much of the greenhouse gas was attributed to food waste, and how food decomposing in landfills creates bad carbon but if it decomposes through composting it’s actually a net gain for the environment. I thought decomposing was the same wherever it happened but that is wrong—it’s something about aerobic versus anerobic. I will get the science wrong but I was convinced when I read it!

That might be methane? Where I live (midwest) the landfill has collected methane for years and they run a generator with it. I think peat bogs produce methane and they are anaerobic (which is somehow why bog bodies are so well preserved) . . . methane is CH4

I used to have a 3 bin system and moving stuff from one bin to the next, etc, but now I literally have a small pile in a corner of the backyard near the garage (garage is detached, when the pile was closer to the house it created more of a fly problem). I turn it periodically. It has grass clipping and kitchen waste (eggshells but no meat). Leaves get mulched via mowing in the fall.

I have a friend who has been fervently green since we were in college in the 70s, and he now grows impressive crops of vegetables in his house during the winter, in a sunroom. He said "cold composting" which this mostly is except when it gets a hefty injection of grass clippings) is fine, it encourages good fungal growth. There's no odor.

In the kitchen I just use old plastic folgers coffee containers. I have several of them. When the one I use gets full it gets dumped, it sits in the same corner of the yard to get rain and sun. There's be a few there already, and I take one to my side entryway and park it so if it's wet, it will dry out. I'll take the existing dry container from the entryway into the kitchen to start over. This way I avoid having to scrub slimy crud from the bottom of the compost container.

The work of sifting is the only real work, an hour or so a few times from spring to summer. I only sift the parts that have basically turned into compost (I'll move the top stuff to start the pile over, then sift the stuff underneath). I've seen plans for making screen turning bins for sifting but really don't produce enough for that. I just have a plastic bin, lay a piece of half inch screen over it, and dump shovels of compost on that and shake it around and scrape with the shovel a bit. This way I can pick out any rocks or hunks of wood or plastic or other trash that has found its way in (because plastic manages to do that).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just signed up for a MoCo pilot program that will collect food scraps in a green bin. Hopefully they roll it out to the rest of the county.

Link?

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/sws/foodwaste/


I can’t find anything public for the food scraps pilot program that we signed up for. The county contacted us directly and offered us a chance to join the pilot program so it may be very limited right now.

Anonymous wrote:We just signed up for a MoCo pilot program that will collect food scraps in a green bin. Hopefully they roll it out to the rest of the county.

Link?

We just signed up for a MoCo pilot program that will collect food scraps in a green bin. Hopefully they roll it out to the rest of the county.

We use compost crew in MoCo. Note that the monthly price varies a lot based on how many people in your neighborhood do if, so if you can get other neighbors on board it will be a lot cheaper. You get 2 free bags of compost per year which offsets some of the cost.

We keep two cereal bowls on the counter for scraps through the day which makes it easier for the kids (I cover one bowl with the other which keeps flies away). After dinner, it gets emptied into the compost crew bin which we keep on our back stoop—we have had any trouble with animals getting in, as it closes pretty securely. Once a week, it goes on the curb.

We started after a read an article about how much of the greenhouse gas was attributed to food waste, and how food decomposing in landfills creates bad carbon but if it decomposes through composting it’s actually a net gain for the environment. I thought decomposing was the same wherever it happened but that is wrong—it’s something about aerobic versus anerobic. I will get the science wrong but I was convinced when I read it!

I'm in Moco. Where can I drop off my compost in Moco? I'd like to start composting too and I'm surprised the county doesn't have a program for this. My SIL lives in Westchester and it's all handled by their township.

Watch out for rats. They will love your compost bin. And they can chew through cinderblock not to mention wire.

Anonymous wrote:Are you in DC? I use a service called Compost Cab. They pick up once a week for about $32 a month. There is also a service called Veterans' compost. I won't mess with doing it myself; I am too afraid of rats. lol

Also I will add Compost Cab provides the containers and the biodegradable bags for putting scraps in.