Composting in an apartment?
by Jen
In about two years, I plan to buy a house and finally have a bit of yard where I can start composting. I want to grow my own veggies, and it’s a pity to throw food waste down the garbage disposal and yard waste into the garbage when much of it is perfect for making your own high-quality organic topsoil.
But I’m getting impatient. I’ve decided I can grow at least a few veggies on the patio at the apartment I’m moving into. Now I’m wondering: can I also compost in an apartment? I’ve found a few links on apartment composting, but since I won’t have a private patio I’m concerned about the compost smelling or looking like a big ugly bag of trash to the neighbors. I found another link that talks about worm composting, but it sounds like if you get one thing wrong, you can wind up with a horrid smell. I also found there are some products that might help. There’s a kitchen composter that ferments food scraps, but it sounds to me like I’ll end up making far more compost than I can use.
Does anyone have any suggestions? If I had a house, I wouldn’t be so wary of trying things and getting them wrong and having a stink to eliminate. But with neighbors right on top of me, it’s a concern.
Related posts:
- Make your own worm composting (vermicomposting) bin
- Throwing out trash in plastic bags
- Container gardening tips and resources
- DIY Landscaping and that tricky side yard
- Apartment gardening
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Posted in Do It Yourself on May 30, 2008
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May 30th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Jen,
My blog has a link to a composter that may be your solution. I don’t think you’ll need to worry about producing too much compost because you can use it on trees, etc., and your landlord might be grateful for the help!
Hope THIS helps!
Marian
http://doityourselfaroundthehouse.blogspot.com/
May 30th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Thanks, that’s very cool! I’ll definitely look into that.
I’ll have to see if my landlord wants the compost. My city is really, REALLY far behind on getting the whole green thing. Drug stores won’t dispose of old meds unless you pay them, for example. Charities won’t take stuff unless it’s like new (as if a perfectly usable but slightly worn item wouldn’t be welcomed by people who need charity???). Of course, this is a city that’s known for tearing down perfectly good old apartment buildings and building brand new (cheap) ones in their place to avoid rent control (there’s a loophole for buildings constructed after 1978). It’s pretty vile, really.
I’ve heard that Whole Foods has some sort of composting program. Surely if I do enough research I’ll find someone who’ll take it off my hands. And by asking people who’ve “never heard of that” and think it’s really “weird” I’ll be exposing folks to the ideas that they really need to embrace.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
[...] Bohemian Revolution asks about composting in your apartment. [...]
August 19th, 2008 at 10:44 am
[...] a few months ago when I asked if there were any composting solutions for people in apartments? And it turns out there are a number of $300 units you can buy, which is not in everyone’s [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Hey there, I realize I’m a little late to jump in here, but I figured I’d add my two cents. I live in an apartment and I have been composting for a couple years, on and off. However, I do have some outside space where I can keep my bin, so it makes it easier, and not as critical if the flies come around. But for the most part it’s never gotten smelly on me, so that’s good. I just wrote up an article about how I do it. I’m no pro, but it works, and my method is pretty simple and straight forward, and I didn’t buy any special equipment for my composting.
http://www.idealistcafe.com/2008/09/apartment-composting-how-to-compost.html
March 13th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I am guessing you might be in your house by now. But I just moved from a home with two large compost bins and four worm bins to a small apartment. Now I have one worm bin under the sink and it is working great. Did you really find that you had too much compost when you were composting in an apartment?
March 13th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I never did find a good composting solution for apartments. For one thing, absolutely no one seemed to want the compost, and it turned out I couldn’t use it as I’d hoped.