Monday, September 14, 2015

Eliminate Stinky Trash Syndrome for Good!



Garbage…. It's the things which we have to deal with, have to have in our kitchens whether we like it or not.  At times, it can seem a bit contradictory to trying to maintain a clean environment.  But, believe it or not, there are ways of getting along with your kitchen trash.   All it takes is establishing a nice, working relationship with it.  Did I say relationship?!  With my trash?!  Yes, I did, and I am going to tell you exactly what I mean.

The way you do that is through a simple system.  Here is what it looks like at my house:

1. Recycling Can.  For glass, plastic, metal and cardboard.  Rinsing out containers first will help eliminate any stench from developing there.  
2. Main Trash Can.  In here, we put things which can't be recycled, but also aren't food or any messy type stuff.  It actually takes us quite a while to fill up this can.
3. Compost Pail.  This is where we put our fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags, bread scraps, etc.
4. Food scraps Can.  Since we don't use a garbage disposal at our house, we use this small can to scrape the remnants of our dinner plates and basically anything yucky that we can't put in the compost, like prepared meals, dairy, oils, dressings, meat, sticky things, etc.  Get the picture?  Being a small bathroom size waste can, this is actually the can we dump the most often (about every other day). You may ask, why don't you just use a bigger can?  Because, then it would just get to stinking, right? This is what makes this whole system work like magic.  Another thing you can do to eliminate/prevent odors, is to soak a piece of bread in vinegar and place it in the bottom of your can. Finally, a good use for those heels!


It may sound like a lot, but it really isn't.  And it doesn' t have to take much room either. Believe me, when I started this system, I had a small, inefficiently laid out kitchen in an old house, but I managed to make it work.  My recycling can is actually in my laundry room (which is connected  to the kitchen), my compost pail lives under my kitchen sink, and the other two cans are side by side in the kitchen. 

It may seem a bit awkward at first, but trust me, stick with it, and once you have it down, it will feel wrong not to do it!



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