Jack's Composters
This garden composter is made from recycled products, and comes partially assembled. The frame is made of cedar wood and is nailed together with galvanized nails . It is light weight so it can be easily moved.
This composter is excellently suited for the owner who has limited yard space but who would like to participate in organic growing. The barrel turns easily on a steel rod to keep composting material well mixed so that it breaks down quicker.
Composting food scraps at home is one of the most important aspects of home composting.
Why? Because food scrap items such as vegetable and fruit waste, meal leftovers, coffee grounds, tea bags, stale bread, grains, and general refrigerator spoilage are an everyday occurrence in most households.
One of the "great waves" in municipal and home recycling is the concentration on what to do with the enormous amount of food waste generated in and out of the home, by businesses, or as a result of surplus farming. On the grand scale, it is estimated that about one-half of all food that is produced or consumed in the U.S. is discarded. The main culprits are spoilage and overproduction/surplus.
A typical household throws away an estimated 474 pounds of food waste each year. Put another way, that is about 1.5 lbs per person a day in the U.S. Food scraps generated by all households in the United States could be piled on a football field more than five miles (26,400 feet) high!
Up to 90 percent of waste thrown out by businesses like supermarkets and restaurants is food scraps. In fact, food scraps are the third largest segment of the waste stream with nearly 26 million tons generated each year. Of the overall wastestream, about 12% is food-related, behind paper and plastic.
WHAT HOME FOOD WASTE CAN YOU COMPOST? Not all food waste is created equal. You should know this or else you may have problems popping up in your compost bin or pile.
BIG PROBLEMS! Actually, once you look at the chart below, commonsense will be your guide.
DO COMPOST:
1. All your vegetables and fruit wastes (including rinds and cores) even if they are moldy and ugly.
2. Old bread, donuts, cookies, crackers, pizza crust, noodles, anything made of flour.
3. Grains (cooked or uncooked), rice, barley, you name it.
4. Coffee grounds, tea bags, filters.
5. Fruit or vegetables pulp from juicing.
6. Old spices.
7. Outdated boxed foods from the pantry.
8. Egg shells (crush well).
9. Corn Cobs and husks (cobs breakdown very slowly).
DON'T COMPOST
1. Meat or meat waste, such as gristle, skin etc.
2. Fish or fish waste.
3. Dairy products, such as cheese, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, etc.
4. Grease and oil of any kind.
WHY CAN'T YOU COMPOST THESE FOOD WASTES?
1. They imbalance the otherwise nutrient-rich structure of other food and vegetarian waste and breakdown slowly.
2. They attract rodents and other scavenging animals.
3. Meat attracts maggots.
4. Your compost bin will smell terrible!!!
CREATE A HOME FOOD WASTE PLAN! Now that you know what you can compost out of your kitchen, create a household plan. Use this plan from food preparation and storage to kitchen storage, and ultimately to the compost bin.
Food Scraps at the Stove Ever wonder how those sauces or soups at your favorite restaurant are prepared? Yes, from vegetable scraps such as peels, skins, stalks, etc.
Simply simmer a small pan of such scraps, as seen on the front burner in the photograph, for a few hours, let cool, then store in your refrigerator until you desire to make a soup or sauce. The stock is delicious, and you did a little vegie recycling to boot!
How to Store Compostable Food Scraps Many people who have an in-sink garbage disposal don't even consider this fact: what they grind up ends up merging with the wastestream leaving their house and into the larger wastestream of their municipality. This definitely taxes municapl waste treatment facilties. Home composting is a decision to have the buck stop at your household.
• Scraps can be stored in plastic bags in your refrigerator until used in your compost bin
• Scraps can take up less space if you chop or shred them first during meal preparation
• Scraps can be stored in a Kitchen Compost Pail until taken to your compost bin
The KITCHEN COMPOST PAIL The best way to store food scraps until thrown into the compost bin is in a securely lidded Kitchen Compost Pail. This can be kept near the sink or beneath it.
You can purchase a food scrap pail designed specifically to securely store food scraps. Look for one with a tight-fitting lid, adequate storage, aesthetic appeal, washable, and with a handle. You can also use a plastic container, such as a 1-quart yogurt container for small quantities of scraps.
Empty your containers daily or every few days, depending upon how much waste you generate, or to insure that no smell starts permeating the kitchen or home. You can always cover the scraps inside a container with a wet paper towel or newspaper to cut down on odor or gnats.
You can decide to empty your kitchen food scrap pail directly into your compost bin. This method is known as the
Add-as-You-Go Pile, as thoroughly described on this website. Better yet is to use a 4-5 gallon lidded bucket to stockpile food scraps, as detailed below.
Information taken from the www.homecompostingmadeeasy.com website.
