Collecting food scraps: the kitchen container, drop-off and curbside
Every system starts in the kitchen. This chapter sets up a container and an emptying routine that does not smell or breed fruit flies, and, where one exists, finds and reads the local drop-off or curbside program.
- Start here: the essentials
- The kitchen container
- Fruit flies
- Finding a program and reading its list
- Liners: the program's rule
- Electric food recyclers
- The household routine
- Curbside and ban rules compared
- What dehydrator output does in soil
- See it: Noor and Tomás
- Practice: set up the container and read the program
- Your system
- Check your work
- Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
For a first pass, this chapter asks you to pick a container, set an emptying routine, and write down where your scraps go, including the ones your method cannot take.
- Choose a lidded container that holds a few days of your logged scraps. A container that lives in the freezer also works (the kitchen container).
- Set the emptying day and who does it, and write both on the plan. (the household routine).
- Look up whether your city or county collects food scraps or runs a drop-off, and write what it takes. If you find none, write that and the date (finding a program).
- If you see adult fruit flies, set a trap and look for the breeding site. (fruit flies).
Minimum time: one sitting of about half an hour to choose, look up and write, then your first emptying day. Done when: the plan names the container, the emptying routine and where scraps go, including what your method cannot take.
The kitchen container Understand
The kitchen container is wherever scraps wait between the cutting board and the bin, the freezer or the drop-off. It does three jobs: it holds a few days of scraps, it keeps them contained, and it is easy enough to empty and wash that someone actually does. City of Portland's compost tips say to choose a container that is easy to empty and clean, and name a reused yogurt tub with a lid, a Tupperware-type container with a lid, and a countertop compost container from a hardware or home goods store (Portland's compost tips). None is better than the others by any source we read; the test is whether you will empty it.
Size it from your log
Your scrap log from What goes in gives the size. Divide the week's total in gallons by seven to get a daily volume, and multiply by the days you expect to go between emptyings. A log of 1.5 gallons a week is about 0.2 gallons a day, or about 0.65 gallons over three days, so a container of about a gallon holds three days under those numbers. A log of 1 gallon a week fits a 1-gallon container emptied once a week. This is arithmetic from the log, and it assumes your first week was typical. If the week was not, log a second one before you buy a container.
How often to empty, and where to keep it
Portland says some people empty daily and others every few days without it getting smelly, and that it depends on the type of scraps. Its advice is not to let even a few scraps sit for more than a few days, to prevent smells and fruit flies. Convention Its alternative is to store the container in the freezer and empty it whenever you like. Burnaby, B.C., gives the same freezer advice for its green bin program: freeze scraps and put them in the bin on collection day (Burnaby's food scraps and yard waste page). New York City's indoor worm bin brochure says to store scraps in the freezer or refrigerator between feedings (NYC's indoor worm bin brochure).
| Container choice | Empty it | Wash it | What it needs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Countertop container with a lid | Daily, or every few days | Rinse at each emptying; scrub with soap or run it through the dishwasher at least once a week | Counter space | Portland |
| Container that lives in the freezer | Whenever you like, for example on collection or drop-off day | Same as above | Freezer space | Portland, Burnaby |
| Container with a paper liner or paper wrap | As above | Rinse at each emptying | A program that accepts paper; see the liners section | Portland, Burnaby |
Washing is part of the routine, not an extra. Portland says to give the container a quick rinse each time you empty it and a scrub with soap or a run through the dishwasher at least once a week. A container that is emptied but not washed keeps a film of old scraps, which is what the next section is about.
Fruit flies
Fruit flies are small flies that breed in moist, fermenting material. They are the most common complaint about a kitchen container, and the facts about them explain the routine. The University of Kentucky's entomology department says a female lays about 500 eggs and that the whole life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week (University of Kentucky's fruit fly fact sheet). Physical principle A container that sits for a week, with a film of fermenting scraps at the bottom, can be long enough for one generation to develop.
Kentucky lists where they breed: ripened fruits and vegetables left out, and drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. All a fly needs is a moist film of fermenting material. A single forgotten rotting potato or onion, or a recycling bin left uncleaned in a basement, can breed thousands. It follows that the fix is to find and remove breeding sites, and Kentucky says the problem will continue no matter how often insecticides are applied unless the sites are removed or cleaned. In a kitchen with a food scrap container, work through these in order:
- Close the container and shorten the interval. A lid and an emptying day within a few days is Portland's rule. The freezer removes the problem for as long as the scraps stay frozen.
- Wash the container. Wash it weekly, as above. A residue is a breeding site.
- Eat, refrigerate or discard ripened produce. Kentucky names ripened produce and unrefrigerated potatoes and onions as attractions.
- Check the other sites in the list. Drains, trash cans, recycling bins, cleaning rags.
- Set a trap for the adults while you do that. Roll a sheet of notebook paper into a funnel, put it in a jar, and bait the jar with a few ounces of cider vinegar. Put the jar where you see the flies. Kentucky describes this as a simple trap that will soon catch the remaining adults, which can be killed or released outdoors. NYC's worm bin brochure gives a similar trap with apple cider vinegar or beer and a drop of detergent. Convention
If you plan a worm bin, the same brochure says to freeze fruit, or microwave it for 60 seconds, to kill eggs before it goes into the bin. Worm bins covers worm bins; Troubleshooting returns to flies in a bin or a pile. Screens help with flies from outdoors: Kentucky recommends tight-fitting 16-mesh window and door screens.
Finding a program and reading its list
A food scrap program is a service, run by a city, county, hauler or community group, that takes food scraps and composts them or sends them for composting. Two kinds matter to a household. In curbside collection a truck picks up a cart or bin you set out on a schedule. At a drop-off site you carry the scraps there yourself. EPA suggests that a household with no space for a pile consider a local municipal or community composting program, and notes that some programs offer a designated place to drop scraps off (EPA's Composting at Home page). A program is a complete composting system: someone else runs the pile. A freezer container and a weekly walk is a system with no equipment beyond a container.
Where to look, in order
- Your city's or county's solid waste or recycling page. This is the one place that states whether curbside collection exists for your address, and what the rules are. Search for the name of your city plus "food scraps" or "compost".
- The Institute for Local Self-Reliance's map of community composters. It shows community gardens, urban farms, bike haulers and other community composters, and notes that community gardens often allow members to drop off food scraps (ILSR's map of community composters). The map says missing sites can be reported, so a site may exist that it lacks.
- Drop-off directories. BioCycle describes FindAComposter.com as a locator developed by BioCycle and managed by BPI, covering composting facilities and food scrap collection programs in the United States and Canada. The same BioCycle article reports that a compostable-packaging company's drop-off database, launched in August 2024, listed over 500 drop-off sites (BioCycle's article on drop-off locators). The count is as of that date.
Whether your household is required to separate food scraps from trash is also a question for the city or state. Some places require it, and a few examples are under Go deeper. This manual states none of them as a rule for you. Ask the authority
What to write down before the first trip
A program's list is specific, and the details decide whether the trip works. Before the first trip, write each of these on the plan, from the program's own posted page:
- What it takes. The list in writing, including the foods that are borderline for you (cooked food, eggshells, paper towels).
- What it does not take. Meat, dairy, bones and oils are the usual exclusions at community sites.
- The liner rule. Paper, compostable bag, plastic, or none (next section).
- Hours, days and seasons. Some programs move or close for part of the year.
- Whether it needs an app, a key or a sign-up.
New York City shows how much two programs in one city can differ. Its Smart Composting Bins are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, unlocked with the free NYC Compost app, and accept all food scraps including meat, bones and dairy. The community drop-off sites in gardens, parks, schools and nonprofits are different: NYC Sanitation says most sites do not accept meat, fish, bones, dairy, oil, fat or prepared food, and that site availability varies, so a household should make sure the site is open and able to accept material (NYC Sanitation's food scrap drop-off page). That is one city's example, read on a date. Your program's list is the only list that applies.
If you cannot find a list, ask the program in writing and keep the answer. If no program is within reach, write "none found" and the date on the plan. Then your scraps go to the method you chose in Choose your system, and what that method cannot take goes in the trash unless you set up a second method (Bokashi and burying covers fermenting and burying meat and dairy).
Liners: the program's rule
A liner is a bag or paper that lines the kitchen container to keep it clean. The rule on liners belongs to the program, and the four examples below differ on the same question. Read yours before you buy a roll of bags. Ask the program
| Program (example) | Liners it accepts | What it says to avoid | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City (curbside) | Clear plastic, paper or compostable bags to line a bin; small bags inside the liner are also allowed | Black plastic bags | NYC 311, NYC Sanitation |
| Portland, Oregon (curbside) | Paper, or BPI-certified compostable bags; the 2 to 3 gallon size fits countertop containers | Other items labeled "compostable", "biodegradable" or "made from plants" belong in the trash | Portland's compost tips |
| Seattle (curbside) | Compostable bags are optional; they must be clearly labeled "compostable" and are often green, pale green or brown | Plastic bags; bags labeled "degradable" or "biodegradable"; compostable-labeled bags in other colors; produce bags unless labeled compostable | Seattle Public Utilities |
| Burnaby, B.C. (curbside) | Paper liners only, including a bag with a cellulose liner; scraps can be wrapped in newspaper, paper bags or boxboard | Compostable or biodegradable plastic bags, which the city says do not break down properly during composting | Burnaby's food scraps page |
No two of these agree, and each is correct for its own program. A clear plastic bag that passes in New York would fail in Burnaby, and a compostable bag that works in Seattle fails in Portland unless BPI certifies it. Our default is the rule your program states. When you cannot find one, use no liner, or paper where the program accepts it, and rinse the container; none of the four examples requires a plastic or compostable bag. The same logic applies to a home bin: EPA lists compostable bags to avoid in a backyard pile (What goes in, labels).
Every program sets its own list, liners, hours and fees, and the four cities here are examples read on a date. Whether a household is required to separate food scraps is the city's or state's rule to state; this manual points to where to read it and does not say what applies to you. A program's posted list outranks everything on this page.
Electric food recyclers
An electric food recycler is a countertop appliance that heats, dries and grinds food scraps. Makers sell them as "food recyclers" or "electric kitchen composters". An independent review calls them food waste dehydrators, says they are often incorrectly called composters, and treats that as the more exact name. We use "food recycler" for the appliance and "dehydrated output" for what comes out. Choose your system said they are not composting. Here is what they do and what happens to the output.
What they do
A BioCycle review by Ron Alexander describes units that use external heat at roughly 165 to 275°F for 4 to 20 hours and leave a dried, ground material with under 10 percent moisture; it reports volume reductions of up to 90 percent (BioCycle's review of electric kitchen composters). One maker, Mill, says its device shrinks the volume up to 80 percent and runs a dry-and-grind process (Mill's explainer on food recyclers). Product fact The two figures are from different sources and are not the same measurement. Vitamix's page for its FoodCycler FC-50 says only that the unit reduces food waste to a fraction of its original volume and eliminates food scrap odors, lists a 120-volt, 500-watt rating and a 2.5-liter bucket, and does not name the output (Vitamix's FoodCycler FC-50 page). Volume and smell are what these appliances change. They are a tool for the kitchen container's job, not for composting.
What the output is
| Source | What it says about the output |
|---|---|
| BioCycle (Alexander, 2023) | It is inappropriate to call the dehydrated material compost; it is shelf-stable but not biologically stable, and it notes that the maker it reviewed does not call its output compost |
| Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition (2025) | The end product is typically a sterilized, dehydrated food powder; the heat kills microbes, so there is no decomposition. Treat it as pre-compost: bury it or add it to a pile |
| Azis and colleagues, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (2023) | In a study of kitchen waste fed into an electrical home composter, the output was still immature and needed more curing, and substantial levels of phytotoxins remained after four weeks of curing |
| Mill (2025) | Its output, "Food Grounds", is not compost; none of these devices makes compost on their own |
| Vitamix FC-50 product page | Does not name the output or use the word compost |
The sources are the BioCycle review, the Illinois coalition's article, the Azis study's abstract, Mill's explainer and Vitamix's page, all linked above or here. The independent sources and the one maker whose explainer we read agree on the one point that matters for a household: the output is not compost.
What to do with it
The output still needs a destination. The Illinois coalition says to bury it in a garden or add it to a compost pile, and to use a backyard bin, worm bin or community or curbside program for real compost. BioCycle says the material could be processed at commercial composting or anaerobic digestion facilities, probably added to backyard piles or used as worm food, and that using it as a soil amendment straight from the machine looks fraught with odor, mold and animal-attraction problems that need study. Mill lists a chicken-feed ingredient program, a community composting drop-off, a garden or soil as part of a composting process, and a municipal food scrap bin "if the city offers one". Whether your program takes the output is the program's answer, and the program's posted list is where to look. Without one of those to receive it, the sources we read leave the output with nowhere to go.
A food recycler reduces volume and smell. It does not make compost, and what your program accepts of its output is the program's answer. We describe only the makers' pages we could read, and we do not recommend or compare products.
The household routine
The container and the program only work if a person does the carrying. A routine is three decisions written down: who empties the container, when, and where the scraps go. Put them on the plan in the line for the kitchen container and emptying routine (system plan). Four details are worth deciding now.
- Who. One name. In a household of several people, the person who cooks and the person who empties are often different, and a container with no owner overflows. Children can own the task in a household whose adults agree on the day.
- When, tied to something else. An emptying day that follows a fixed event (trash night, market day, the day the bin is checked) is easier to keep than a day chosen for itself. If you use a freezer container, the event is the program's schedule.
- Where, including the second destination. Name the place the scraps go and the place the items your method cannot take go. If you have two methods, say which scraps go to which.
- What changes by season. Programs move, bins freeze and freezers fill. Write the date you expect to switch. A drop-off that changes site or day in winter needs the new schedule on the plan before the old one ends.
Last, check that the routine matches the log. If the container fills before the emptying day, either the interval is too long or the container is too small, and both are cheap to change at this stage and expensive after you have bought a bin.
Curbside and ban rules compared Go deeper
These are four rules that apply in four places. They are examples of the kinds of rule a city or state can set, read on 2026-10-26, and they are not a list of rules for you.
| Place | What the rule does | Enforcement named on the source | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | Curbside composting is mandatory: all residents must separate food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste from trash. DSNY collects them weekly on the recycling day, from a labeled bin of 55 gallons or less with a secure lid, or a DSNY brown bin | DSNY: as of April 1, 2025, property owners may receive a fine if compostable material is not separated from trash. NYC 311 lists separation fines per offense (first, second, third and later): buildings of 1 to 8 units $25, $50, $100; buildings of 9 or more units $100, $200, $300 | NYC Sanitation (curbside page), NYC 311 |
| Seattle | Municipal code sections 21.36.082 and 21.36.083 require residents and businesses not to put food scraps, compostable paper, yard waste and recyclables in the garbage; the city prohibited food waste from the garbage in 2015 | The page describes a tag and notice for each warning and, after two warnings, a $50 fee for recyclables in the garbage. The fee it names is for recyclables, so read the page for food scraps | Seattle Public Utilities |
| Vermont | The Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) bans "food residuals" from the trash. Residents who compost in their yards can put meat and bones in the trash; a small amount can be frozen and taken to a food scrap drop-off | No fine stated in the state document we read (December 2020) | Vermont DEC |
| California | SB 1383 (2016): every jurisdiction must provide organic waste collection services to all residents and businesses. The law set 2025 targets of 75 percent less organic waste sent to landfills and 20 percent of unsold, edible food sent to food recovery organizations | None stated on the page we read | CalRecycle |
The Vermont law is the one place we found a measured result. Vermont Public reported in August 2024, four years after the ban took effect, that the state estimated between 50.7 and 56.8 percent of food waste was being kept out of the garbage across residents, businesses, haulers and manufacturers. It also reported that 43 percent of households said they composted food waste at home or through municipal services, and that food scraps in the landfill had fallen 13 percent by tonnage since 2018 (Vermont Public's report on the first four years). It is one state's estimate, as reported then, and it does not predict any other place. For New York, the DSNY and NYC 311 pages describe fines and a grace period that ended April 1, 2025. We took enforcement status from those pages and not from a news report, and they are where to check the current status.
What dehydrator output does in soil Go deeper
The chapter said the output needs a destination. BioCycle's review reports what happened when its author put the output in soil, with two kitchen units and compared against compost. These are one practitioner's trials and do not describe every machine.
- In planting trays, significant mold and odor appeared in some of the dehydrated samples by the third day, and after five days mold had nearly covered both dehydrated samples.
- In a rye grass trial, a blend with 25 percent dehydrated food and 75 percent sandy soil had no germination, while grass grew in the compost blend. The dehydrated blend also attracted flies and smaller insects and produced a significant odor.
- In Mill's own contracted field research, as BioCycle reports it, applying the dehydrated material directly to soil led to significant mold and attracted dogs and wild animals such as raccoons and skunks, even when it was incorporated into the soil.
BioCycle's conclusion is that the material may be further processed or added to a pile, and that soil use straight from the unit needs further study. We read it as a reason to treat the output as a feedstock for another step, and to ask whoever receives it.
See it: Noor and Tomás See it
Noor Haddad and Tomás Reyes are fictional people, and every fact about them here is invented for this manual. Noor, 28, lives alone in a fourth-floor apartment with no balcony, and her scrap log in What goes in came to 1 gallon in the first week. Her program is a weekly Saturday drop-off at a farmers market 0.8 miles away, May through November. In winter the program moves to a library branch on Wednesdays. It takes fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and tea, eggshells and plain paper towels, and does not take meat, dairy, bones, oils or compostable bags.
What Noor chooses. A lidded 1-gallon container that lives in the freezer, emptied each Saturday. The log's 1 gallon a week fits the container exactly, so any bigger week needs a second container. Because the program does not take compostable bags, she uses no liner and rinses the container at each emptying. Cooked food with oil or dairy goes in the trash, and so do the cheese rinds. Known: the program's posted list, her container size and her weekly log. Her assumptions: the first week was typical; the winter library schedule will match what is posted. Open: whether the program takes plain cooked rice, which its list does not name (the market's composting contact settles it, and until then the rice goes in the trash); the date the program moves to the library (she writes down the market's last Saturday in November once she hears it).
Tomás Reyes, 34, rents the downstairs of a duplex with a small yard and cooks most nights. His scrap log in What goes in came to 1.5 gallons in the first week. His city has no curbside food scrap collection. There is a drop-off at a recycling center 4 miles away, and he chooses not to use it.
What Tomás chooses. A container with a lid that holds about a gallon, about three days of scraps under his log, emptied into the bin every third day. Meat, fish and dairy go in the trash. He writes the recycling center's drop-off on the plan with the line "4 miles away; decided not to use; revisit at the review", so the choice is a decision on paper and not an omission. Known: no curbside collection; the drop-off exists and he can reach it by car. His assumptions: one gallon is enough for three days; he is not bothered by the lack of a program. Open: whether he sees fruit flies (he sets a jar trap if he does); whether his landlord allows the outdoor bin (Site and bin).
Under these assumptions, Noor's plan holds a container and a program, and Tomás's holds a container and a bin. Both have written down the part their method does not take.
Practice: set up the container and read the program Practice
Minimum: pick a container, set the emptying day and the person, and write the program's name and what it takes, or write that you found none. Time: about 30 minutes once, plus your first emptying day. Materials: your scrap log total, a container you already own or one you will buy, the system plan, and a way to look up your city or county's solid waste page.
- Pick the container. Divide your log's weekly total by seven, multiply by the days between emptyings, and choose a container at least that size with a lid. Decide whether it lives on the counter or in the freezer.
- Set the routine. Write who empties it, which day, and where it goes. Tie the day to something fixed.
- Look up the program. Start with your city or county's page. If you find a program, write its name, what it takes and does not take, its liner rule, hours and seasons. If you find none, write "none found" and the date.
- Write what your method cannot take, and where it goes. Use the stays-out list from What goes in and the program's list.
- Check for flies. If you see adults, set the vinegar trap and check the sites in the fruit fly section.
Compare two programs. If you find more than one program within reach (for example, a community garden and a city bin), write both on the plan with their lists side by side: what each takes, hours, liner rule and how far you must carry the scraps. Choose one for the first month, and note the date you will compare them again.
Your system Your system
Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does the plan name the container and its size, and say where it is kept?
- Does it name who empties it, which day, and where the scraps go?
- If a program exists, does the plan give its name, what it takes and does not take, its liner rule, and its hours and seasons, from the program's own page?
- If no program exists, does the plan say "none found" with the date?
- Does the plan say where the items your method cannot take go?
Worked example
Noor's plan names a 1-gallon freezer container, a Saturday emptying day, her own name, the market drop-off with its posted list, no liner and the winter schedule marked "to confirm". Tomás's plan names a gallon container, an every-third-day emptying into the bin, his name, "no program in my city; recycling center 4 miles away, decided not to use", and the trash for meat, fish and dairy. Neither plan states a rule it has not read.
Common mistakes
- Buying bags before reading the rule. The four examples disagree about liners.
- Letting a container sit. A week is long enough for flies to complete a life cycle.
- Treating a recycler's output as compost. It is a dried feedstock that still needs a pile, worm bin, bed or program.
- Copying a neighbor's program. Programs differ by city and sometimes by site.
- Forgetting the second destination. What your method cannot take must go somewhere written down.
What is still unresolved
What a program takes is settled by the program's posted list, or by its contact. Whether you must separate food scraps from trash is settled by your city or state. Whether a food recycler's output is accepted anywhere near you is settled by the program or the place that would receive it. How much your household makes in a typical week is settled by the second week of the log.