Composting in an apartment is possible. It is not as effortless as a backyard heap, and it requires a slightly different approach, but a year of disciplined apartment composting can divert several hundred kilos of organic waste from landfill while producing useful material for any plants you have or any garden you can borrow from a friend.

This guide walks through the year of apartment composting from setup through harvest, using a combination of worm bin and bokashi.

Apartment-friendlyYear-long projectMultiple methods

The two-system approach

A single system rarely handles all apartment food waste. Worm bins reject meat, dairy and oily food. Bokashi handles those but needs eventual burial. Together they handle 95% of kitchen scraps.

January: planning

Order a worm bin and a bokashi kit. Set them up in their final locations (a cupboard, under sink, or balcony). Add bedding to the worm bin and let it settle for a week before ordering worms.

February: starting

Worms arrive, get introduced gently into the bin. Bokashi kit begins receiving meat, dairy and cooked food scraps. Vegetable scraps go to worms.

March-May: rhythm

Daily kitchen caddy filling. Twice-weekly emptying to systems. Weekly check on each. By May, both systems running smoothly. First bokashi bucket ready for burial; this is where having a friend with a garden or community garden helps.

June-August: warm months

Worm bin most productive. Check moisture; can dry out in summer heat. Bokashi buckets cycle every 4-5 weeks. If you have plants, start using diluted bokashi tea as feed.

September-November: autumn

First major worm bin harvest if not done already. Each tray of finished vermicompost should be lighter, darker and crumbly. Use it on houseplants and any container garden you have.

December: review

Tally what worked. Did you regret any food going to landfill? Were the systems convenient enough? Adjust capacity for next year.

Where to dispose of finished material

  • Houseplants and balcony pots.
  • Gift to gardening friends.
  • Community gardens often accept apartment compost.
  • Some councils have urban farm pickup.
  • Worst case, distribute lightly to street tree pits.

Common challenges

  • Smell from a bin (worm bin too wet, bokashi spigot blocked).
  • Fruit flies (uncovered scraps; bury under bedding).
  • Travel periods (top up bedding, freeze any compost-bound scraps in advance).
  • Roommate or partner skepticism (start small; results win over).

Further reading

Two authoritative resources we recommend if you want to go deeper on this topic:

Frequently asked questions

Environmentally, yes. Practically, the satisfaction grows over time. The first three months feel like work; year two becomes routine.
Roughly $150-$250 for initial equipment (worm bin, bokashi kit, worms, bran). Ongoing costs are about $40-$60 a year for bokashi bran.
Bokashi can be brought to community gardens or shared garden plots. Worm bin material is in such small quantities that even sidewalk planters or street trees benefit.
Not large bones, not significant amounts of fats, not yard waste (apartment systems are not sized for it). Otherwise, most food scraps work.
Properly run systems do not smell. Visitors will not notice unless you tell them.
Jay Sharma
Written by

Jay Sharma

Jay Sharma edits Farmora Living. He grew up around a working kitchen garden and has spent the last several years testing equipment, growing methods, and small-space food setups in his own courtyard and rooftop plot before writing about them here. His pieces lean on what a first or second year of practical growing actually looks like, on tool reviews grounded in real seasons of use, and on the small shortcuts and honest mistakes that only surface after you have done the work yourself.

105 guides published Contributor since 2021 Updated regularly

Continue reading