We've become more and more hippie-ish in our near eight years living in San Francisco. We've mostly dwelled in compost-practicing households here, where it was a convenient process and just as easy to do as tossing waste in the trash. We now live in a large apartment building with around 30 units with no current compost option, although a few of us tenants are interested in setting one up.

We throw away a lot of coffee grounds, cashew pistachio shells, discarded stems from greens, garlic casings, etc., which not only feels like a shameful waste, but causes our eco-friendly trash bags to rot very quickly. This inevitably causes us to poke our fingers through the bottom when throwing them down the trash shoot. Disgusting!

Our building manager said the main issue is that the compost would have to be stored in the basement, and our landlord is understandably concerned about it attracting rodents, which are already a battle. Sunset Scavenger advised us that the home bin and roadside bin can both be lined with paper bags, and food should be tightly wrapped in paper milk cartons and newspaper, which will keep the smells from attracting rodents. They also said our building might qualify for more than one pick-up per week.

Do any of you out there inhabit a large apartment building that has composting? Is the above advice rodent-proof?

Also, check out what Jepson Prairie Organics does with the Bay Area's compost.

Image credit: justHugo, via Creative Commons