c/apartment-composting

14

ninabutler•7h ago

My homemade compost bin liner completely disintegrated after 3 weeks

I thought I was being smart and used that biodegradable bag from the grocery store as a liner for my countertop bucket. Big mistake. After three weeks of adding scraps, the bottom just gave out and I had apple cores and coffee grounds all over my kitchen floor at 6 AM on a Tuesday. Cleanup took forever and my whole apartment smelled like rotten veggie juice for hours. I ended up just tossing the mess and going back to a bare bucket that I rinse out every few days. Has anyone found a liner that actually holds up or do you all just raw dog it too?

22

christopher402•1d ago

Bought a $40 bokashi bucket and now I'm not sure it was worth it

I got one of those bokashi buckets from Amazon a couple months ago (you know, the ones where you layer scraps with the special bran). Thought it would be perfect for my tiny studio in Austin since there's no smell. But honestly? The bucket itself feels kinda cheap for the price. The spigot leaks a little and I'm already almost out of the bran starter. Now I gotta buy more for like $15 a bag. Has anyone else tried making their own bran or switched to a worm bin instead?

25

ellis.robert•3d ago

My neighbor insists bokashi is the only way to go for apartment composting, but I'm not convinced

So I was talking to this guy Mark in my building who uses a bokashi bin and he says it's way better than worm composting because you can compost meat and dairy too. He said his bin has been going for 8 months without any smell issues in his 500 square foot unit. I've been doing a worm bin for about a year now and I love it, but I have to be super careful about what goes in. Has anyone here tried both methods and can tell me which one actually smells less in a small space?

16

charlie_allen•3d ago

Changed my mind about worm bins after visiting a friend's place in Portland

She had a two-tier Worm Factory 360 in her kitchen corner with zero smell and I saw her toss in banana peels and coffee grounds right at breakfast, so I finally bit the bullet on a small setup of my own - anyone else get convinced after seeing one in action?

11

amy975•3d ago

Spent $80 on a fancy bokashi bin and got nothing but mold

I bought a bokashi bin from a popular online store 3 months ago thinking it would be perfect for my tiny kitchen. Instead of fermenting my scraps, everything just grew fuzzy green mold after two weeks and smelled like rotten garbage. Has anyone else had bokashi fail on them or did I just get a dud?

23

andrewh43•4d ago

3 years of worm bin trials finally paid off last week

I started a worm bin in my Brooklyn apartment back in 2021 and it was a stinky mess for so long. Last week I opened it up and there was ZERO smell just nice earthy dirt. I switched to adding more shredded paper and less citrus peels about 6 months ago and that did the trick. Has anyone else had luck balancing their worm bin with a specific ratio?

7

uma_baker99•18d ago

Used to toss coffee grounds in the trash, now they go straight into my bokashi bucket

Switched about 4 months ago after my kitchen started smelling like old grounds every morning. The bucket sits under the sink and I just dump them in with a scoop of bran, zero smell even after a week. Anyone else find bokashi handles coffee better than traditional worm bins?

19

morgan_butler•19d ago

Had a week where my worm bin actually smelled like fresh soil instead of rot

Last Tuesday I added a batch of coffee grounds and eggshells from the cafe down the street. For three days straight the bin stayed damp but not wet, and I stopped stirring it so much. By Friday the whole thing smelled like a forest floor instead of that sour smell you get when stuff goes anaerobic. Has anyone else noticed that backing off on turning the bin changes the smell more than any fancy bin design?

26

lee_gibson•19d ago

Hit 90 days of bokashi composting and got totally different results than I expected

I started this bokashi bin back in January thinking I'd just get less stinky food scraps. But after 90 days I had 40 pounds of material that looked like pickled garbage and smelled like sour beer. The surprise was burying it in a little raised bed I have on my balcony and watching stuff actually grow faster in that corner. Did anyone else's bin take way longer to break down than the instructions said?

27

shanegibson•20d ago

Can we talk about the freezer trick for coffee grounds?

After 3 months of my bin getting that sour smell every time I added coffee grounds, I finally tried freezing them first in a baggie before tossing them in. It stopped the smell completely and I don't know why I waited so long to test it. Has anyone else had better luck pre-freezing certain scraps or is this just a me thing?

16

tara_sanchez•21d ago

Just saw a stat that changed my mind about bokashi composting

Read that bokashi bins produce 90% less methane than regular compost piles, and that sold me on trying it in my tiny NYC apartment. Anybody else switch methods after seeing hard numbers like that?

0

the_jessica•22d ago

I thought bokashi bins would stink but mine is actually fine

I always avoided bokashi because I figured it would smell like rotting garbage in my tiny kitchen. Finally tried one after my sister gave me her starter kit, and honestly it just smells like pickles or fermented stuff. The key was sealing the lid tight and draining the liquid every 3 days. Anyone else find bokashi way less stinky than they expected?

27

abby189•25d ago

My bokashi bin nearly ruined my kitchen last week

I was doing the whole bokashi thing for 3 months in my tiny studio in Austin and thought I had it down, but I forgot to drain the liquid for 4 days straight. The smell when I finally opened the spigot was this rotten sweet stink that hung around for hours no matter how much I aired the place out. Anyone have a trick for remembering to drain on a set schedule without relying on phone alarms that I just ignore?

11

willow_garcia•1mo ago

That moment I realized I was burying greens way too deep in my bin

I kept getting this weird sour smell from my compost bin for weeks (like pickles gone bad). Turns out I was piling all my veggie scraps at the bottom of the bin under a thick layer of browns. My friend who composts in her studio apartment (in Austin) saw a photo I sent and pointed out the greens need to be mixed through the whole bin, not just buried. Has anyone else had that 'oh duh' moment where your compost setup just clicks after months of frustration?

9

tara745•1mo ago

Thought bokashi was just another fad but my neighbor's results got me

I was dead set against bokashi composting for over a year, figured it was just extra work for no payoff. Then my neighbor in 2B showed me her bin after 3 weeks and there was zero smell, even with citrus and onion scraps in there. Has anyone else gone from hating to loving a method just from seeing it work in real life?

18

riley_price•1mo ago

That thing about coffee grounds being "heavy" for worms finally clicked for me

I was reading a post on r/vermicompost last week and someone pointed out that coffee grounds clump up and create anaerobic pockets if you dump them in all at once. I had been doing that for like 6 months and wondering why my bin got smelly every time. Switched to sprinkling a thin layer of grounds and mixing it with shredded paper (a 1 to 3 ratio roughly) and the smell disappeared in like 3 days. The worm count seems higher too. Anyone else have a simple fix that was hiding in plain sight like this?

18

michael_craig•1mo ago

TIL my bokashi bin was fermenting faster than my patience

I used to just toss everything into a plastic bucket with holes drilled in the bottom and hope for the best. That thing smelled like a gym sock after three days, no joke. About 2 months ago I switched to a bokashi system with an airtight lid and bran. Now I can go 10 days before I even think about emptying it, and the liquid drips out like a slow faucet. What changed was realizing my old setup had zero air control. Has anyone else found that switching methods cut down on fruit flies way faster than you expected?

16

barbara84•1mo ago

My $40 worm bin turned into a surprise escape room for my kitchen

Bought a fancy compact worm tower on a whim for $40, thinking it'd be a total game-changer. Three days later I woke up to a trail of worms crawling across my counter, so now I'm wondering if anyone else has had their composting critters stage a jailbreak?

15

kareng27•1mo ago

Thinking bokashi bins are the only option for small spaces really held me back

I spent 6 months trying to get a bokashi system working in my 400 square foot walkup in Portland. The smell was fine but I kept having to buy the special bran and it got expensive fast. Then a friend suggested trying a simple worm bin under my sink instead, and it was WAY easier to manage. The worms don't smell at all and they eat through a pound of scraps a week without me doing much. Has anyone else had better luck with worms over bokashi in a tiny apartment?

10

karen_hart•1mo ago

Peeked inside a hotel lobby compost setup and had to share

Stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last week and noticed they had a fancy electric composter in their breakfast area. It was a Lomi model, and they let me check out the end result - dry, crumbly dirt with zero smell. Has anyone tried one of those electric ones vs a regular bin in a small apartment?

6

noah_chen17•1mo ago

Vent: Bokashi bran vs. traditional layering - which one actually works?

I've been apartment composting in Chicago for about 8 months now, and I keep seeing people swear by bokashi bran for zero smells. But every time I tried it, my bin got this sour vinegar stink that made me gag. Then I switched to just layering scraps with dry leaves and sawdust, and suddenly no smell at all. Am I missing something with the bokashi method, or is traditional layering just way more forgiving for small spaces? Has anyone else had this problem with bokashi in their kitchen?

11

wesley_thompson•1mo ago

Went to a community garden workshop and smelled something off in their compost bins

I visited the Elm Street garden last Saturday for a composting class, and three of their five bins had this awful sour smell like rotten eggs. The instructor said they added too much wet food waste without enough browns, and the pile went anaerobic. Has anyone else run into a stinky bin issue that made you rethink your own apartment setup?

14

ericnguyen•1mo ago

My bokashi bin attracted fruit flies for a month

I keep my bokashi bin under the kitchen sink in my studio apartment. Last month I got lazy and left the lid cracked for a few hours after dumping in some melon rinds. Next thing I know, tiny fruit flies were everywhere. Took me 3 weeks of sealing every crack with tape and freezing scraps before adding them to finally get rid of them. Has anyone else dealt with a fruit fly outbreak from a compost setup?

18

carr.james•1mo ago

My bokashi bin blew its lid off and I almost cried

I had this bokashi bin sitting in my kitchen corner for about two months, doing fine, no smells, real proud of myself. Then last Tuesday I got home from work and heard this weird hissing sound. Opened the cabinet and the lid had popped clean off. There was liquid all over the floor and it smelled like pickles and death mixed together. Turns out I forgot to drain the spigot for like three weeks and pressure built up inside. I spent an hour scrubbing the cabinet with vinegar and baking soda, then moved the whole setup onto a plastic tray I stole from a plant pot. Now I set a phone reminder every Sunday to check the spigot. Has anyone else had a bokashi bin get too gassy on them?

1

luna_clark38•1mo ago

Found out my bokashi bin needs way less liquid than I thought (and why my balcony plants smelled like a pickle)

I watched a video from the Seattle Tilth compost workshop on YouTube last night. They said if your bokashi juice smells sour or like vinegar, you are adding too many wet scraps. I was dumping in all my melon rinds and citrus peels without draining the liquid every 2 days. No wonder my apartment smelled like a fermented salad. Has anyone else had to adjust their draining schedule after seeing that video?