But for the first time, we no longer had on-site trash removal, and every week or so needed to drive our trash to the town dump. Recycling was fairly complex at the dump, certainly more complicated than Abington and Billerica's recycling - in those towns, we just needed one bin for all recyclables (plastic, glass, paper), but Hanson's recycling was more more item-oriented. Separate bins at the dump for plastic and glass, paper, cans, metal (I tried my best, but really, who has that much space in their kitchen for that many bins?).
While apartment-living, though, it was really shocking how much less trash was generated once all the recyclable materials were pulled out - certainly over half of the material. And what remained was largely food waste and some other things. So once in Hanson, the reality of having to lug trash to the dump frequently became a nuisance - weird hours, as well as a tendency to be closed for lunch just as we were pulling in (and sometimes grumpy attendants!). With that in mind, I really started thinking about the content of our trash itself - since most of it was food-based anyway, and we had a huge yard, why not give composting a try? Good for our garden, plus would allow more time between dump-runs since the trash would no longer be filled with decomposing, smelly items!
I got to work searching the internet for ideas. There were tons of great videos on Youtube and articles about all levels of composting. After spending long hours raking and trimming the yard, I knew I wanted a large space for composting, since yard waste would take up a lot of space, plus food scraps, bunny manure, shredded documents (I love my shredder!), etc. So we went to the local grain store and picked up seven wooden pallets and brought them home. I painted them white and using some bungee cords, pieced them together to form three open bins. This was during our first year at the house, in early springtime. Little did I realize, though, that I had set the bins up in a field of poison ivy, which had been covered by fallen leaves! That made summer composting a lot harder, and eventually instead of trying to keep the piles hot by turning, they instead nicely served as cold storage piles.
And now we are back to apartment living. Here, recycling is easier again, since it can all be together - one bin for plastic, glass, paper. But that still leaves the remaining trash as mostly food scraps. Bunny reaps some of those rewards with leftover apple cores and other tasty fruit scraps, but I have been craving the ability to compost again. But it's a small space, and composting can be a messy business. I searched around for small-space or apartment-balcony composting ideas, and came across the Envirocycle Mini Composter, which seems an ideal solution. Small and compact, full contained and made from durable recycled plastic, and best of all, designed as a tumbler with wheels (because I know how heavy flipping compost can be! Obviously we'd be composting way less here without yard scraps, but the convenience of tumbling rather than having to manually flip the pile seems ideal), with a runoff to collect compost tea to add directly to the soon-to-be balcony garden! (I'm resisting the urge to start planting right away! It might be milder here than New England, but not THAT much more mild to plant in February!).
Here's a review of the composter on Youtube:
What's not ideal is the price. So I'm going to keep my eye out for a good sale...
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