adventures in apartment composting

Did you know that food waste in a garbage bag is essentially embalmed and the decay process slows to a halt? Did you know that approximately 40 percent of food waste in the United States is from consumers?

Over time, I’m finding that I am becoming much more conscientious about my family’s production of waste. It seems to me that if we want to have a world that we can pass on to future generations, whether we have children or not, it is imperative that we reduce the amount of stuff that we send to the landfill. You only have to watch Disney’s Wall-E to see where we are heading.  

We already do a bit to reduce our waste by recycling everything that can be recycled, preferring to buy glass instead of plastic since glass is easier to either repurpose or recycle, using our own containers at the grocery store when we buy bulk items, meal planning, and other ways. However, since we primarily cook at home, we still produce a bit of food waste and it seemed like there should be something that I could do to cut back there as well. Enter the idea of composting.  

Composting intrigues me because it is the ultimate project of turning “trash” into something useful. After doing some research, I decided to buy the Hot Frog Living Composter. A big selling point for me was the attractiveness of the bin. Since it is going to live inside our home, I wanted something that would not be an eyesore. The cost was comparable to other indoor composters. I also bought 1,000 red composting worms whom, in the tradition of Finding Nemo, I have named Frank.

Setting up the composter was super easy. It took me about five minutes to put the composter together and another ten minutes to get the worms squared away in their new home. Tomorrow, I will use the food processor on the kitchen scraps that are in the freezer and give the Franks their first meal. Supposedly, 1000 worms can eat up to 1/2 pound of food daily. I’ll be sure to report back on how this project is progressing. I do need to figure out what to do with the compost once it is ready since I don’t really garden, but that’s a project for another day.

How do you reduce food waste in your home?