food waste container for countertop
August 15, 2024 3:20 PM Subscribe
I am looking for a food waste bucket that looks good on a kitchen counter and can be tightly sealed against insects.
Our local ant population has been on a mission to exploit our kitchen and any available food sources. We collect food waste to put on a compost pile over several days before dumping it. Our current container does not seal so the ants are having a heyday.
One good aspect of the current container is you can pull the internal section out of the shell and carry it to the compost pile. The exterior shell looks like a miniature trashcan, one of the silver round ones with the pop up lid and foot pedal. Ours is 12" in diameter and about 16" tall. That fills the available space it sits in.
Anything we get would hopefully be an aesthetic upgrade, have handles for easy carries, and be easy to maintain and use, plus a lid that can be tightly sealed. Since we dump food into it regularly, a wide mouth to accommodate this is also necessary.
In my imagination, this new container looks like a Mason jar with a minimum 8" wide mouth, a rubber seal and clamp to close it tightly. Relatively light weight, easy to clean, easy on the eyes. Break proof against drops and such.
Our local ant population has been on a mission to exploit our kitchen and any available food sources. We collect food waste to put on a compost pile over several days before dumping it. Our current container does not seal so the ants are having a heyday.
One good aspect of the current container is you can pull the internal section out of the shell and carry it to the compost pile. The exterior shell looks like a miniature trashcan, one of the silver round ones with the pop up lid and foot pedal. Ours is 12" in diameter and about 16" tall. That fills the available space it sits in.
Anything we get would hopefully be an aesthetic upgrade, have handles for easy carries, and be easy to maintain and use, plus a lid that can be tightly sealed. Since we dump food into it regularly, a wide mouth to accommodate this is also necessary.
In my imagination, this new container looks like a Mason jar with a minimum 8" wide mouth, a rubber seal and clamp to close it tightly. Relatively light weight, easy to clean, easy on the eyes. Break proof against drops and such.
I've considered but never bought these ones from Lee Valley 1 2, but (in a reverse of the age-old paradigm) I don't know whether you can buy them from the U.S.
posted by zadcat at 5:45 PM on August 15
posted by zadcat at 5:45 PM on August 15
As a sideways-option, a big tub in the bottom of the fridge is an insect-proof solution.
posted by janell at 6:16 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
posted by janell at 6:16 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
Agree with @janell. We have tub with a lid in the fridge that we dump in the compost a couple times a week. Doesn't smell or attract insects and saves space on our tiny counter.
posted by XtineHutch at 6:19 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
posted by XtineHutch at 6:19 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
In the meantime, if you put a plate or something under your current vessel, and make a little water most, the ants won’t cross it and you can protect the compost.
posted by raccoon409 at 8:06 PM on August 15
posted by raccoon409 at 8:06 PM on August 15
I've used several bins and none of it works for me to be honest, the only thing that worked for me was to single knot green compost bags and put it inside the bin so that the bugs can't even smell it. My fridge is not big enough to store a compost container in it.
posted by yueliang at 1:27 AM on August 16
posted by yueliang at 1:27 AM on August 16
I have the first Lee Valley one that zadcat linked above. We've used it for probably 10 years or so and it holds up extremely well, but it does have holes in the top. It uses two filters in the lid but they are loose fitting so I suspect ants could get in if you have a real infestation.
posted by Cuke at 6:20 AM on August 16
posted by Cuke at 6:20 AM on August 16
My sister and BIL either have this or a bin that looks identical. They put a compost bag in it that extends over the edge so they can tie it off and lift the bag out when full--less cleaning of the bin itself. I know they've had a small problem with ants recently, but that hasn't always been a problem, so I don't *think* it's the compost.
posted by epj at 10:31 AM on August 16 [1 favorite]
posted by epj at 10:31 AM on August 16 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Okay, some good solutions here. Mine was to head over to a big box grocery store and found a Tupperware container, kind of squarish with rounded corners, clear plastic, about 14" tall and 6" wide at the top with a squeezy lid you can easily press on. Easy to use and will do the trick until I can find a better way to do this.
posted by diode at 11:14 AM on August 16
posted by diode at 11:14 AM on August 16
We have this simplehuman one. […] The lid seals very tightly.I have the same one. If I open it, I can see a dozen or so ants running around inside it. If I ever forget where my front door is, I have a trail of ants I can follow to it.
posted by kyten at 5:29 AM on August 18
Just as another option: OXO makes compost bins for countertops. It's probably more expensive than your cheapest option and it's DEFINITELY not bug-proof on the countertop (but would be in the fridge). Thing is, it dumps easily and cleans easily and if you like OXO products then you are getting roughly that level of quality here.
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Easy-Clean-Compost/dp/B083FLCBFF?th=1 (because on the OXO site, they're sold out)
My specific use case is that I have a large building where a central compost bin is collected daily; I could dump our bucket each evening and probably never see a fruit fly again. But the lid seal is ineffective against tiny bugs over a longer period of time, and fruit flies tend to like hanging around it - but we're in a worst case scenario where the building's garbage compactor is *directly underneath the apartment* so anything we let linger tends to quickly attract innocuous pests, and anything left longer will do worse. The compost bucket has been among the least of the offenders/root causes, particularly because 80% of its content is coffee grinds with various flavors or spices. We also compost banana peels but those seem not to attract bugs any more than a week without them. YMMV.
posted by brianvan at 5:40 PM on August 18
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Easy-Clean-Compost/dp/B083FLCBFF?th=1 (because on the OXO site, they're sold out)
My specific use case is that I have a large building where a central compost bin is collected daily; I could dump our bucket each evening and probably never see a fruit fly again. But the lid seal is ineffective against tiny bugs over a longer period of time, and fruit flies tend to like hanging around it - but we're in a worst case scenario where the building's garbage compactor is *directly underneath the apartment* so anything we let linger tends to quickly attract innocuous pests, and anything left longer will do worse. The compost bucket has been among the least of the offenders/root causes, particularly because 80% of its content is coffee grinds with various flavors or spices. We also compost banana peels but those seem not to attract bugs any more than a week without them. YMMV.
posted by brianvan at 5:40 PM on August 18
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posted by hilaryjade at 5:42 PM on August 15