My new favorite kitchen thing is a thing I’m reusing for something else.
Ta da! My new swank kitchen countertop compost holder! It’s a Romertopf oven turned compost collector that actually looks nice on the kitchen counter and it has a lid, too.
This new beauty is a replacement for our last counter compost container that was made of plastic and do you know what it did? It cracked. No surprise, right?
I was determined to find a non-plastic container and the terra cotta Romertopf is perfect for the job. Here’s other wonderful thing about this compost container:
It fits in a little spot we designed inside the trash/recycling cupboard where we can store our compost under the counter most of the time. It’s the perfect size for said slot.
Done.
No need to buy a compost container (I’m amazed to see that compost pails cost anywhere from $20 t0 $60!)
And, what’s with the charcoal filters the store bought compost holders have? If you just empty your compost pail into your compost every day, there’s no need for odor control, right? And, lining it with a plastic bag? Just. No. The whole point in having a compost pail is to tip the thing over in your compost, take it back into the kitchen and wipe/wash it out. Enough said.
Did you know that if you compost your food scraps (and the other things we know can go into a compost), you can reduce your waste by 60%? That’s a great reduction in your trash bill. Between our chickens, guinea pig, dog, and worms, our compost is reduced by 2/3 each day as these critters get first dibs on the kitchen scraps.
I looked around on the internet, and found a few other innovative reuses for a kitchen compost caddy. My favorites were a vintage ice bucket and a, get this, mason jar.
What do you hold your kitchen scraps in, destined for the compost bin?
Pioneering The Simple Life 
What a super neat idea!
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Thanks!
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Hi Liesl, nice idea! We use a stainless steel bowl. We already had this, and you don’t need a plastic bag inside. It is ease to wash and fits under the sink. Some people tend to combine kitchen scraps and plastic bag. I really don’t know why. Have a lovely evening!
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Thanks, Esther. Yes, the hope is that more people will see how unnecessary it is to use the plastic bag liner. One less plastic bag in use for the win.
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We use a stainless milk pail which has a lid. And thanks to your previous article, when I had a sick dog this week, guess where the vomit went. I don’t know why it did not occur to me earlier that compost was the right place for that! So obvious, and yet…! =)
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LOL! I think we might be starting a movement here…pet vomit in our compost. Wow!
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Cool!!!
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Ha, we also had a plastic compost container previously. It didn’t crack but it would just get filthy and I couldn’t stand it anymore. So now we use a glass bowl that was gathering dust in the cupboard. I still line it with a strip or two of junk mail most of the time, but if it does get dirty now it’s just a quick wipe and done.
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That’s brilliant, Deborah. We’ll try the junk mail liner, too. Many thanks!
— Liesl
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Thanks for the shout-out re. my vintage ice bucket compost bin. I love it, still looks stylin’ after all these years and continues to be oh so handy for green scraps. Love your solution too!
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Nice to hear from you, Susan! I love your writings and ideas.
— Liesl
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