Haste makes waste...so take your time and make waste useful!

I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs and got to thinking about a question that came up there. Is it better to put your food waste down the disposal drain or in the trash? My husband and I banter about this all the time. I loose interest in my breakfast when I open the trash in the morning to see last nights' dinner staring up at me. He hates forcing mush down the drain. I'm finding that the trash is the winner over the disposal hands down, according to our eco-friendly blog. The amount of water used to wash the ground up food particles down the drain is excessive. Then, once it travels through the system, huge amounts of water are needed to process the waste out of the water at the other end. Placing the waste in the trashcan avoids massive water consumption. During a drought, this can be a valuable piece of knowledge. There is another method, however! Purchase a small countertop composting container and put your food waste to good use. Resource the vitamins and minerals to your gardens, plants and flower pots. If you visit http://www.williamssonoma.com/ or http://www.realgoods.com/ you'll find some excellent prices in products that will easily do the trick for the beginner composter. From a 5.5 quart container at $18 to the ceramic version at $32 and the stainless at $59.99 you can surely find a style that suits your decor. Complete with charcoal filters for odor free composting you have a choice of decorative canisters that will be almost unnoticeable on your countertop. Surprisingly, Target also carries a stainless $59.99 countertop version at http://www.target.com/ or the Nature Mill Pro for under the counter installation. These are significantly more expensive, beginning at $299.99 and the super model at $399.99 designed for small restaurants, offices and large family usage. These composters have vacation settings and the capacity to compost 120 pounds of food waste per month. It has a continuous process function that mixes every 4 hours and ready for composting every two weeks. This is perfect for the avid gardener. These larger canisters can be installed indoors or out! I am just loving this idea and think it's high time I participated! My mother used to compost for her garden but we had to hike out to the back of our couple of acres, usually at night after dinner and dump behind the shed, who knows what lurked back there? I guess I lived to tell about it but I still think I prefer the indoor countertop option. Much more manageable and at a task level that I feel confident I can handle! Try it and let me know your success rate! Good luck going green! Miriam