Used to scrape my scraps into the trash, now they go straight into a freezer bin

For like 3 years I was dumping all my veggie peels and coffee grounds into the regular kitchen trash, and it just got so stinky and wet after a day or two. Then my downstairs neighbor told me she keeps a little plastic bin in her freezer and adds scraps until it's full before taking them to the community compost drop-off. I finally tried it myself about 6 months ago, and it's honestly a game changer because nothing rots or smells when it's frozen solid. Has anyone else found a weird trick like this that made apartment composting way easier?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_rowan16d ago

I actually watched a video a few months ago from this guy in Portland who runs a small composting service, and he said that freezing scraps also breaks down the cell walls in the plant matter, so they decompose faster once they finally thaw out at the compost site. That part blew my mind because I just thought it was about smell control. I also started doing something similar but with my eggshells, I rinse them out and toss them in a paper bag in the freezer, then crush them up for my houseplants soil later. The frozen coffee grounds are amazing too because they don't get moldy like they used to sitting in my counter bin. It really makes me wonder if there are other everyday things we could just freeze instead of tossing, like bread crusts or herb stems, to buy ourselves more time to use them up.

riley_bell16d agoMost Upvoted

Isn't it funny how the best solutions are just moving the problem to a colder place...