How to Make Your Own Small Kitchen Composter

Buy a 4- to 5-gallon plastic pail with a snap-on lid from the hardware store. Be sure it has a handle and check the lid to see that it fits securely. Rinse the pail and clear a space for it under the sink.

Line the pail with dry bedding -- ripped up or shredded newspaper, torn cardboard, straw or coconut coir.

Drill holes in the lid and super-glue a cat litterbox filter to the underside of the lid, covering the holes.

Add a separate supply of dry bedding and a small container of garden soil or prepared compost to your under-sink composting center.

Collect food scraps in an empty 1-qt. size container or bowl when you prepare meals. Save any compostable scraps at the end of meals or when you clean out cabinets or the refrigerator.

Do compost fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds and paper filters, tea bags, and egg shells. Don't compost meats, fish, dairy products or anything greasy. Dump the scraps in the bucket, layer some dry bedding over the scraps -- the same type of material you used to line the pail -- and scatter some finished compost or soil over that. Snap the bucket's lid on.

Repeat this process until the pail is full. Stir the contents to aerate them every week or so. Use an old fireplace poker or a compost poker. The compost is ready when it resembles crumbly brown soil and smells earthy.

Use the hybrid compost method if you don't have a planter or garden for your compost, or lack the room or patience to see the process through. Prepare the pail the same way you do for complete composting. Use it to hold cooking and table scraps until it gets full. Dump the full pail into old plastic grocery store bags and take them to the nearest compost drop-off site. Or stick the full bags of scraps in your deep freezer until you have time to take them to the compost depot.