Composting doesn’t have to mean your house has to look like a dirty hippie lives there. Gone are the days of throwing your food scraps in an old milk jug. These days, it’s possible to have stylish countertop composting that can match any kitchen’s color scheme.  Check out my tips to make countertop compost work in your household.

An Easy Guide to Stylish Countertop Composting

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to waste less and be more eco-friendly. I’d love to be one of those people who can find a way to live a zero waste lifestyle, but with 3 kids, that isn’t going to happen for me anytime soon. Instead, I am focusing on balance and doing my best for the environment. That means I work really hard to decrease our food waste even though we still create a lot of trash. Baby steps, right?

I may be a dirty hippie at heart, but I love a beautiful and clean looking home. For years I have been throwing my green waste into a paper bag in the fridge and then taking it to our compost wizard once or twice a week. This worked well until we ran out of fridge space. Our family of 5 now needs a fully stocked fridge all the time!

These tips have helped me create a stylish countertop compost system.

Buy a large countertop compost bin

Countertop compost bins come in all sorts of different colors and styles these days. Wayfair has a ton of options for countertop compost bins here. I also love the ones below from Amazon. These are my favorites because they can match almost any home decor.

I personally love this countertop compost bin below. It is the one we use at home and give to our Naples Compost customers.  Not only is it beautiful but it holds a good amount of green waste- 1.3 gallons to be exact! It’s the one I bought to go in my house because it matches my clean and white theme.

How to use your countertop compost bin

All “green waste” can go into your countertop compost bin. It’s important to buy a quality one that has an inner layer and uses charcoal filters. Too often I see cheap versions at big box stores that only offer a bin without a separate inner layer or a place for charcoal filters.

The inner layer will allow you to easily carry your green kitchen waste to your larger compost bin. This also allows you to easily clean out the layer without having to wash the entire bin. Always wash the inner layer each time you empty it.

The charcoal filter is what keeps your kitchen smelling fresh. It keeps bugs out and smells inside. You should change these every 6 months. It’s easy to buy more through Wayfair for roughly $20.

Pro tip: empty your countertop compost bin often to keep the green waste from getting stinky. 

Empty your countertop compost bin into a larger one

You can’t just collect kitchen scraps on your counter top and get compost. You have to add it to a larger compost pile or bin in order for the scraps to breakdown into compost. There are a few different options for composting.

Compost Wizard

The compost wizard is my favorite compost bin. It’s a tumbling bin that speeds up the process of decomposition. It’s easy to rotate even when full. This is the bin that I have at home and I absolutely love it.

Stationary Compost 

A stationary compost is the most popular kind of compost. It’s a standard bin or pile where you dump your waste. While it’s easy, it take the longest to turn to compost.

Curbside pick up

If you are lucky enough to live in a town with community compost or compost pick up, you can buy a large bin for curbside pick up. I actually own the compost pick up service in my town!

Pro tip: the smaller your food particles are, the quicker they will turn into compost. 

Compost tip: add a mix of “browns” to your kitchen “greens”

You have to make sure to have the right ratio of brown items to green items.

This is a great way to make use of yard waste or paper bags. I personally get paper bags at the grocery store and shred those in with my compost. Since we live in Florida we don’t get a lot of fallen leaves! I love to throw my paper towel and toilet paper rolls in the compost too.

This image from How to Compost sums it up pretty nicely!

Pro tip: go through your recycling bin to find extra “brown” items for your compost bin. 

Speed up the composting process

The composting process can take up to 3 years if you use a standard compost pile!

There are some awesome hacks to speed up this process. My favorite way to speed up the process is to use a tumbling compost bin like the compost wizard. Compost is ready in 2 weeks using this method.

Another way to speed up the process is to use boosters in your compost. Not only do boosters speed up the process, but they reduce the smell. They also make the compost even more nutrient rich making it even better for your gardens!

Are you ready to set up your stylish composting system? Head here to find my favorite compost items. 

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