PlacerSustain: Voices of Placer County's Sustainability Community

I'm a ghetto composter trying to make a change ....

For years, I've thrown leftover fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, etc. out the door into the flower garden. Coffee grounds sometimes make it to the garden, but most get thrown in the trash.  Meat and dairy go in the trash too.  Leftovers go down the sink disposal, compounding the work that the sewer treatment plant has to do.  I've developed this system because composting has been too much of a hassle - I start one, and then it sits in the yard for years - a giant bump.

So, for 2012, I decided to make a change.  I researched on the internet and found good reviews on Nature Mill (http://naturemill.com/).  Today, my new kitchen composter arrived!  The goal: all kitchen scraps go into the composter.  You can continually add food scraps; you balance the chemistry by adding a cup of wood pellets (or sawdust) and a Tb of Baking Soda.  I've started it out with some leftover greenbean cassarole from Christmas - I'll report back on how it goes.