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I have had a compost bucket for as long as I can remember. I also remember dumping out that slimy mass of gunk that slops out of the bucket giving off odors that no one wants to ever smell again. Since then, I have discovered a great way to have a compost bucket that does not smell, even when it sits for weeks between dumping.  The answer to smelly compost is adding dry matter of a high carbon content. This can be sawdust, shredded paper, or my favorite, paper egg cartons. Keep a bowl of dry organic matter accessible at all times. Whenever you add anything wet, add an equal amount of dry matter. The compost will not smell. The excess water that is present in the decomposing bucket will be absorbed by the dry stuff. This worked so well that we started using a 5 gallon bucket as a compost bucket. We would keep a bowl on the counter for putting the scraps in. When we were done cooking, we would just empty the bowl into the bucket that lived under the sink.
After doing this, we found that the bucket only needed to be dumped every week or so. We also found that it did not smell nearly as bad. We had one complication, though: the fine dry matter would stick to the bottom of the bucket when we dumped and would have to be scraped out. I decided to put a few twigs at the bottom whenever I dumped the bucket and it fixed the problem. Another idea to make the compost smell better is to add a handful of finished compost and a handful of worms and sal bugs.  The reason these techniques work is that the rotting scraps will not develop an anaerobic environment (lacking oxygen). The dry matter absorbs the water letting oxygen permeate all around the scraps. Those nasty smells are caused by anaerobic conditions. We found that the scraps would start composting in the house but never smelled bad. This same technique will work for your compost bin too to keep it from smelling. Remember if it stinks it is too wet.
Last update: April 17, 2009
03:30 pm
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