5 Quick and Easy Tips for Food Waste Disposal

Everyone home must have a solution for food waste disposal. There are several ways you can get rid of food and other organic waste, some convenient and some eco-friendly. Some methods of food disposal require some thought and effort, but they can provide great payoffs. Read on to learn about several different types of food disposal methods and tips to make them easy.

Garbage

Those who live in apartments without a garbage disposal have little choice but to take care of food waste disposal by putting it in the garbage. However, there are others who do have the choice but still choose to dispose of waste carelessly. Dumping garbage in a traditional manner might be quick, but it's not the best option by any means.

One big problem is that you need to empty your garbage every couple of days, especially in summer, or the food waste will rot and start to smell. It can also cause germs, so you need to be careful when handling older food waste and be sure to wash your hands after.

Compost

Collecting food waste and putting it in compost bin is definitely the greenest option. You will need a small bin in your kitchen and can add potato peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags and anything left on your plates before emptying out into your garden compost bin every few days.

This method has a double advantage. Not only do you get rid of your food waste, but you also help recycle it by creating more compost. Thoughtful food waste disposal can help lower your carbon footprint.

Worm Bin

A worm bin creates compost in much the same way as a compost bin but uses worms to eat the waste instead of letting it rot down. This is a faster process and means you’re able to use the compost more quickly. Again, you'll need to collect the food waste and feed it regularly into the worm bin. Building a worm bin is simple and there are plenty of places to obtain worms for this form of food waste disposal. Note that you need a special type of worms for this method.

Garbage Disposal

Apart from simply throwing things away, the most common method of food waste disposal is to use a garbage disposal under the sink. This is a good method but not as perfect as many people imagine. There are a number of things that shouldn’t be put down a garbage disposal, so you’ll still need to get rid of them in other ways. This is because some fibrous items become stringy and cause the disposal to jam. The fact that it’s so limited means that a garbage disposal is far from ideal because you need to use it in conjunction with other methods.

Animals

If you own enough property to keep pigs or goats, they can take care of much of your food waste disposal problem. There are limits on what you can feed them but you can compost the rest or put it in a worm bin. Again, feeding your food waste to animals recycles the food and offers a green option. The area of land you need in order to keep animals, however, makes this an option that's not available to most people.