Composting is great for the planet and even better for your garden — but let’s be real, it can get pretty smelly. The good news? It doesn’t have to. There are plenty of high-tech countertop composters and food scrap processors out there that break down waste in hours while keeping your kitchen smelling clean. We recently tried the Lomi composter and the Mill kitchen bin — both worked well, but they’ll set you back a few hundred bucks.
The better news? You don’t need expensive gadgets to keep food scraps out of the landfill (and out of your nose). There’s a super simple, low-cost way to compost without the stink — and you probably already have everything you need.
Ready to give it a go? Here’s how to start your own compost pile, and the trick to keeping things smell-free indoors. Just use your freezer and a basic plastic container, reusable freezer bags, or even some old grocery bags
Read more: Starting a Compost Pile? Avoid These 10 Foods and Household Items
Freeze your food scraps until you’re ready to take them out
Bag up your compost and keep it in the freezer for a fresh-smelling kitchen all year.
If you’re planning to start a compost pile, or are already composting but can’t stand the smell, another way to avoid a smelly kitchen when composting is to toss your food scraps in the freezer until you’re ready to take them out to the pile.
It’s a simple adjustment but one that makes composting much more palatable. To freeze your food scraps, either buy freezer bags and use them repeatedly or dedicate a small plastic container within your freezer to hold scraps. I like using a plastic container so I can run it through the dishwasher after emptying it.
Some countertop compost bins promise to reduce odors, but there’s only so much they can do.
Freezing your food scraps — including the smelliest items such as fish skins, spoiled produce and leftovers — until you can transport them to the outdoor pile will keep your kitchen smelling fresh.
A simple plastic storage container is all you need to make composting an odorless affair.
I find this particularly helpful living in an apartment in Brooklyn, where it’s harder to make runs down to the compost bin in the front of the building. If you’re worried about losing too much space in your freezer, use freezer bags and take your food scraps out to the pile as frequently as you need.
You can compost most, but not all food scraps
Creating a successful compost routine also requires learning what you can and can’t compost. The bulk of kitchen scraps are compostable — pits, cores, rinds, leftover, meat, dairy and coffee grounds — but foods with high concentrations of oil and sugar are not ideal to add to the pile. If you’re wondering how to start a compost pile, we’ve devised this handy guide for first-time composters.
Automatic food processors such as Mill and Lomi work well to eliminate food odors, but both will cost you more than $500.
For more tips on keeping green in the kitchen, read about the proper ways to recycle takeout containers and the best tools for fighting kitchen waste.
