Boulder Vermicomposting

How I deal with food scraps

April 26th, 2009

Especially during the winter, food scraps can be a big problem.  My redworms are not inside, so I can’t just walk to another room in my bathrobe.   Food scraps accumulate at different rates (if I make a fruit salad, quite rapidly; chili, not so much).  If I leave the scraps for too long, they produce fruit flies and smells.  And since the weather can be bad 6 months of the year here in Boulder, Colorado, I can’t always put the scraps in my bin immediately, as I tend to do during the summer.

I’ve tried a variety of solutions for keeping my food scraps inside until I can move it out to my external worm bin, including:

• having my worm bin inside
• a 5 gallon bucket full of leaves and some vermicompost
• zip lock baggies

Things that I have not tried that I’ve read or heard about include

• freezing all scraps
• fruit fly traps
• compost keepers

I don’t like the idea of freezing the scraps because

• my freezer is typically full
• the whole point of vermicomposting for me is to reduce my garbage and overall impact on the earth; freezing doesn’t fit with that

Below, I outline the system that works for me.  I have two or three 1 gallon coffee containers, like this one:

coffee container

I fill one (container A) up with food scraps.  Since it is airtight, the smells don’t escape, and you have no flies.  It does get pretty funky and moldy in there, depending on what scraps I’m putting in.  I’ll put everything in there, including liquids.

When it is full, I take it out and dig a hole in my bin.  I empty the container into the bin.  If it is really funky, sometimes I’ll fill the container with water and dump that in.  I refill the hole with some of the bedding.

Then, I add a bunch of leaves (every fall I grab them from the curb and store them on my patio) for additional carbon content.

As for the container, I’ll leave it outside, and take another one in (container B).  I find that leaving them outside on my patio serves a number of purposes:

• dries out any food scraps that stuck to the side of the container
• dissipates any smell
• dries out mold (I don’t know if it kills the mold, though)

I have not had any trouble with animals investigating the containers, though I live in a pretty urban environment.  After container B fills and I empty it into the bin, I knock whatever dried scaps remain in container A out into the bin or onto the beds, and take it in with me.

What methods do you use to deal with your food scraps?

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