Compost in an Apartment Without Worms – GWC Mag

Apartment composting is not easy, and it can be a little smelly if not done properly. Though an indoor compost bin is not ideal, if you follow the right methods, it is possible to make your own compost without a dedicated outdoor area.

That said, something you may want to avoid doing when it comes to composting organic materials in your apartment is using worms. Having worms inside of that apartment compost bin poses challenges and problems of its own, so most people will choose to avoid a worm composter in an apartment setting.

However, it is possible to engage in composting in your apartment without having some kind of huge compost bin. With the tips that we are about to provide below, the average household can easily compost indoors without using those traditional composting methods involving worms.

Let’s move on and take a look at some of the benefits of composting, as well as some of the best indoor composting methods that don’t use worms and are ideal for a small apartment.

The Benefits of Composting

Before we talk about the different methods of composting those kitchen scraps and organic waste in your apartment, let’s first take a quick look at what the different benefits of composting are.

• Save money on fertilizer – If you have house plants or a community garden that needs regular fertilizer, instead of buying it, you can quite simply make your own. Using your own compost allows you to create very nutrient-rich soil that will allow plants to flourish without the use of chemical fertilizers. Then, once your house plants die, you can use those dead leaves to make even more compost.
• Reduce emissions – Composting is also an ideal way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane emissions. Microbes that produce methane are not active when there is oxygen present, therefore preventing these pollutants from entering the atmosphere.
• Reduce waste – Apartments tend to be smaller, and that plastic bin you use for garbage can fill up very quickly. Making your own compost is a good way to prevent a lot of your waste from going into landfills. Everything from dairy products and coffee grounds to tea bags and other forms of kitchen waste can be composted. If you use the right composting methods, you can even compost some animal products and pet waste without having to engage in backyard composting.
• Reuse food waste – On average we waste nearly 40% of the food that we purchase. Therefore, at the very least, creating your own compost out of food waste will allow you to reuse that food that would otherwise be wasted.

How to Do Urban Composting Indoors

The good news here is that all of those old citrus fruit and vegetable scraps don’t need to go to waste. There are many different ways of composting in an apartment, with some methods allowing you to do so right on your kitchen counter. Let’s take a look at all of the different composting options you have at your disposal.

1. An Electric Composter

One of the best options at your disposal is an electric composter, otherwise known as a food recycler. This is a small bin that can easily fit on your countertop, although there are much larger options available.

This is a special type of indoor compost bin that uses heat, pulverization and aeration to quickly compost food indoors, while also minimizing odor, emissions and food waste volume.

There are many different brand names that make these electric composters, so we recommend doing some research into specific models. This allows you to turn everything from tea leaves to dairy products to animal products into black gold.

Some of the biggest benefits of using an electric composter are that you can compost a variety of very hard-to-compost materials, and you can create finished compost in mere hours. Furthermore, this method generally does not produce any smells or attract pests and is just easy to use in general.

However, there are some drawbacks to using an electric composter. They are: energy use, noise and expense.

2. A Bokashi Compost Bin

One of the more unique methods of composting indoors without worms is by using a so-called bokashi bin. A bokashi bin uses what is known as bokashi bran to ferment food waste inside of an airtight container. You can either purchase or make your own bokashi bin, but you do need to buy bokashi bran.

Fill up your bucket with your food waste, and then add a small layer of bokashi bran. It doesn’t take all that much. You then seal the bucket and let it ferment for roughly 2 weeks. The process of fermentation allows food waste to decompose and turn into compost very quickly. It should be mixed around occasionally, but other than that, there is not much to it.

One of the biggest benefits is that this bokashi bin allows you to compost difficult-to-compost materials such as eggs, meat, and dairy. Furthermore, it has a rather low startup cost.

On the other hand, the downside here is that you have to continuously purchase bokashi bran, and the fermentation liquid that is created through the process can be very smelly. 

Due to it being smelly, some people then choose to take the bokashi bin contents and bury it in a small hole outdoors to finish the composting process, although if you live in an apartment, this is likely not an option for you.

3. A Community Compost Service

Another major problem that many of us face when living in an apartment is that we can’t really have gardens. Sure, we can have a few houseplants and flowers, but we can’t really have a full-scale garden with vegetables, fruits, herbs, and more.

However, what is popping up more and more nowadays are community gardens. If you know of a local community garden that has a composting program, this is the perfect thing to do with all of your food waste. Even if your local community garden doesn’t have a compost program yet, people might be open to you starting one.

One of the biggest benefits of using a community compost service such as this is that everybody in the vicinity gets access to a composting method.

The simple reality is that many people won’t go through the trouble of composting indoors, even with all of the simple methods we’ve discussed here today. However, if there’s a community garden with a compost service nearby, people will be more inclined to recycle their food waste.

Furthermore, another benefit here is that it allows you to create a better bond with your neighbors and to create a better sense of community. In many cases, this even allows you to take part in food share programs.

One of the drawbacks, however, is that in North America, having community gardens and community compost programs is not yet very common. Therefore, it might be up to you to get the process started. Also, traveling back and forth between a community garden can be a bit time-consuming.

4. Residential Compost Pickup Services

Although many cities in North America don’t have them yet, public and private residential compost pickup services are expanding in municipalities everywhere as cities try to get a handle on their waste issues.

In a residential compost program, you can quite literally put your food scraps and other food waste into a bin or bag, and a service will come pick it up for you, likely about once per week.

The big benefit here is that this is of course extremely easy and convenient. You don’t have to do any of the composting or hard work yourself. The downside, however, is that it can be quite expensive to do privately.

5. An Apartment Composter

The other option you have at your disposal here is to use some plastic bins to make your own indoor apartment compost bin. There is absolutely no reason why you can’t do this, and technically speaking, you could also add worms.

For a small apartment space, we recommend using buckets that are no bigger than one gallon, maybe even ones that have just a 2-liter capacity. Making your own indoor composting bin is very cheap and easy to do, because you just need some small compost bins, shredded newspaper, and some wood chips.

This also allows you to work on your own project, but the downside here is that composting indoors with this method takes a relatively long time. Furthermore, it can also attract pests and insects and it can be quite smelly.

How to Make Your Own Indoor Compost Bin

Before we wrap things up for today, let’s quickly go over a small step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own indoor compost bin in your apartment.

Conclusion

The bottom line here is that it is more than possible to engage in apartment composting without using worms.

That said, if you make your own indoor compost bin, and the apartment which you live in has no rules explicitly banning worms from being on the premises, then you could potentially use worms as well.

Using electric composters, the bokashi method, or even taking your food waste to a community garden are all options you have at your disposal. Perhaps the best of all is to just make your own indoor compost bin as discussed directly above.

Feature image: Lenka Dzurendova; Image 1: Denise Nys