Photo courtesy of MJ Monty at Flickr.com.

In an average house, the kitchen is where 80-90% of all organic scraps come from. The cutting board creates a steady stream of waste, from apple seeds and peach pits to avocado shells. It’s also where potato peels, the tops of strawberries, and bell pepper stems gather. Food scraps can quickly attract insects and rodents, so its important to dispose of them in a timely way, but these high volume fruit and vegetable scraps can be quite a handful. They not only take up lots of space, but they can be messy and awkward to carry across carpet. So, the kitchen is a logical place to put a bucket or pail for gathering scraps.

If you have a compost pile or composter in the back yard, a kitchen compost pail is a great accessory. These airtight pails are designed to control odor, and they can store compost scraps for days or weeks. Carrying compost out of the house during a rain or snowstorm can be an unpleasant experience, but with a kitchen compost holder you can stay inside where it’s warm and dry. There’s no reason to make a trip out to the composter whenever you generate new scraps; instead, just put them in a kitchen crock and consolidate multiple trips into one!

Photo courtesy of Maria Sews at Flickr.com.