Joseph Joseph Compo 4 Easy-Fill Compost Bin Food Waste Caddy with Adjustable Air Vent, 1 gallon / 4 liters, Stone

I was using an old ice bucket lined with a grocery bag for kitchen scraps previously which I thought was fine. But then I got this. This design is much better than my garage sale ice bucket; specifically, that this is as wide as a dinner plate makes for easier corralling of scraps. The vent holes that can be open or closed to prevent condensation or odors are handy. Perhaps a bit pricey for a handled plastic container with vent holes but a very good design.

After 6 years still working

I wanted a small compost bin to use on our kitchen countertop. We live in an apartment building that has composting bins on every floor. So, I just wanted something reasonably attractive, but simple and on the small side. I ordered this one after weeks of searching. When it came, it was a bit too small to be practical. Since I missed the return deadline, I decided to use it to store sponges and other small items under our kitchen sink. For that purpose it works fine—and looks good.

I admittedly haven't always been the best composter, so i will share what helped re-form my habits in hopes it helps someone else build better habits. why did i suck so bad at composting? bad reason... because I've always disliked my compost containers. too big... too small... too tall... too hard to open.. too inconvenient... too smelly... dumb shape/size... too many flies... too ugly... you name it, not a good excuse, but for me it's hard to re-form habits if the solution doesn't fit into the workflow well and causes frustration. i've tried tall garbage can ones, pretty ceramic ones, a bowl on the counter, a bucket with a screw lid, a stainless food insert form the restaurant with a lid, all had significant (enough) problems that would lead to frustration when the time came to use. so I'd do it, but kinda half-assedly. recently tho, I got this handy little bin and it's really been a game changer in re-forming my habits. why do i like it so much?...it's a good size, 1 gal. not too big that you put off dumping it in a timely manner but not so small that you can't cook anything without filling it up. and if your're cooking so much one day that it is actually too small, then i just keep a bowl on the counter just for the day's cook and dump it right away.it's narrow, wide and deep, which is nice because it doesn't take up much room on the counter and it's width makes it nice for scraping off plates. but its not so deep its uncomfortably high like many of the ones on the market. and not so deep you're grossed out pushing down the contents to make more room.if you don't like it on the counter, it has a nifty handy hanging bracket so you can put it behind a cabinet door or the side of an island. the handle makes it quick to grab to bring to the counter when you're doing a cooking project and quick to put back out of sight when you don't want the clutter.this is a big one for me.. it has a flip lid, so you don't have to put the gross, wet, bacteria laden lid on the countertop. it's easy to open with your hand or the rim of a plate and since its attached, frees up both hands for scraping.you can use it with or without a liner. the bags that it uses are on the spendy side, but the composable meat and produce bags at trader joe's (maybe elsewhere) fit perfectly so at least you can get double use of them (and they're free). other cheap bags probly work too but might be too big which brings it's own set of problems. so i buy theirs and fill in with the free ones from trader joes when i have'em on hand.the removable lid conceals the bag overhang, keeps the bag in place and makes it easy to clean.easy to wash. does NOT have a filter. I do NOT like ones with filters. filters provides a nice nesting medium for fly larvae and breeding ground for bacteria with will just make it stink up faster in the first place.the nice thing about models with filters is that they allow airflow, which keeps the moisture down, which slows down the bacterial growth. but they don't really do this enough to overcome the bigger flaws. this one has a little slider, so if you want air movement, you can slide it open, but i find that the bin is a small enough size and doesn't necesitate worrying about this so i keep it closed.durable.reasonable price... @$20 it's more than a bucket, but less than some i've looked at. i am more than happy to spend a little more on something that is well designed and more likely to be used.they make two versions.the one i'm yappin' about is the door mountable one. the other one is a squarer countertop one with a filter. that one is NOT the one i recommend.

So this is a GREAT product having features other bins do not have. If you are going to install it on the inside of a cabinet door so that you don't see it on your counter, you likely will run into the same issue I did. That is to install the mount I would have needed to use the tiny screws shipped with it which I'm sure are supplied that small because most cabinet doors are very thin. Those will NEVER hold up--with loading and unloading that bin and the opening and closing of the door regularly those little screws will come loose pretty quickly.Fortunately, most cabinets also have very thick surrounding borders. So what I did was cut a piece of scrap wood of similar color to the cabinet and installed the bin on that. I used a bolt, washer (on the bolt side), lock washer (on the nut side), and nut to connect it rather than wood screws--much better connection. Then I used much longer wood screws to affix it to the cabinet door (four total). It has to be offset from the center so it closes. It should be mounted as high as possible for under-counter cabinets for usable space below it and ease of reach, but keep in mind if you want to keep the handle in the down position, you need to leave room for the handle at the top as well.Other purchasers of this and other bins mentioned the decomposable bags decompose fairly quickly. With this, there is no need to worry about that because you can easily empty it using the handle to lift the entire bin out (it lifts out very easily) and empty it without ever touching the bag.Also, note that I used double-sided tape to affix a charcoal filter (search for rectangular ones on Amazon). I placed it directly under the vent with enough room to open and close the vent, although if you wanted it to vent better you could affix it somewhere else under the lid. I didn't want the odors coming through the vent holes which is why I placed it directly under the vent.Another complaint was the size--this is one gallon many others are bigger. If you want one to sit on top of the counter bigger is fine. But even 1 gallon gets fairly heavy so attached to a cabinet door one gallon is probably best. Also, it depends on family size--there are only 2 of us so we go a week or so before having to empty it. And I'm not sure you want to go even that long frankly.If there is one criticism I would make is there is no compartment for holding charcoal filters. That would have made this the PERFECT choice. The double-sided tape to affix the filters works fine though so no big deal.

Finally got the hang of putting liners inside so they don't slip down. Cleans up nicely and well made. I like the nice slender style as does not use up alot of counter space.

Great

The look and convenience of having the this compost bin was great for about two days. Then, the ants decided they enjoyed the design too and found their way in..Was a good idea, until it wasn’t.I’ve never seen that many ants.