Storing garbage so it doesn't get too smelly (saving on trash pickup)

I'm currently paying $30 per month for trash pickup. I found out that I can take my own trash to the county transfer station for $2 per 30 gal. bag (plus the cost of gas to drive over there). I already compost and the county takes recyclables for free, so I want to cancel my trash pickup and just "stockpile" my true garbage until I take it to the transfer station myself. This should save me about $300 per year.

What I'm unsure about is how to store the accumulating garbage (especially in the summer) so it doesn't get too nasty before I dispose of it. Also, the garbage would have to ride inside the car with me, so the less fragrant it is, the better.

If any of you already do this, have you found any tricks that make it more pleasant (or at least less gross)? I'd probably rinse out meat wrappers and I've thought maybe a sprinkle of baking soda once in awhile might help. What would be a good container (keeping in mind that it has to fit in the back of a Subaru Forester with the back hatch closed)?

Any pitfalls I should be aware of?

We don't have garbage pickup here and I no longer maintain a pickup truck so my garbage rides with me too.

Since we compost everything that is compostable I have found that the stuff going to the landfill really doesn't smell that much. Mostly it is just some plastic stuff, styro, or metal cans. As you mentioned we rinse the cans and meat wrappers. I buy my meat from a local farmer and his wrapping is minimal, when I freeze my own meat it is in plastic wrap. I would love to find an alternative to that.

Initially we did have a LOT of trash but we have found that since converting over from processed food we have so much less garbage.

If you already compost what's in your garbage that's smelly? I don't have much left in my garbage other than wrappers to fidly to recycle and icky things like tissue with misc in it.
So i guess the better question to you is what are you not composting? I have answers in the case of how to manage odor while stockpiling for composting but for the garbage heap I have none as it sounds like your shipping out elements that could be composted.
By compost do you mean active aerated turning compost, or slow decomposition 6 months to a year compost? If composting methods can go from 11 to 18 days to up to 2 years the word composting isn't specific enough these days.

Saybian Morgan wrote:If you already compost what's in your garbage that's smelly? I don't have much left in my garbage other than wrappers to fidly to recycle and icky things like tissue with misc in it.
So i guess the better question to you is what are you not composting? I have answers in the case of how to manage odor while stockpiling for composting but for the garbage heap I have none as it sounds like your shipping out elements that could be composted.
By compost do you mean active aerated turning compost, or slow decomposition 6 months to a year compost? If composting methods can go from 11 to 18 days to up to 2 years the word composting isn't specific enough these days.

The smelly stuff would mostly be meat wrappers. I get local pastured meat that comes vacuum wrapped in plastic. Or there might be steak bones, trimmed bits of fat, that sort of thing. I never have enough compost materials at one time to put together a hot, fast pile, so stuff just goes into the compost bin as available. Small amounts of veggie scraps, plant materials, coffee grounds, and then garden waste and grass clippings. But never a really large amount all at once.

I sometimes have grease-soaked paper towel from draining bacon but I don't know if that is compostable or not because of the grease.

For the fat scraps, bones, etc. I was thinking I could freeze that stuff and then try to remember to take it out and add it to the garbage just before I leave for the transfer station.

Jeanine Gurley wrote:

Initially we did have a LOT of trash but we have found that since converting over from processed food we have so much less garbage.

I've found that too. And the local pastured meats are vacuum-packed and never come in a styrofoam tray with those bloody soaker pad things, so that's really made a difference. And I find I think more about packaging before I buy stuff too. When I buy milk for making yogurt, I always get it in glass. I could buy it in plastic or cardboard but the glass bottle is returnable.

Lately I've been putting out trash once every two weeks but very often the bag isn't all that full so I really think once a month would be enough. But I hate to have that big lumbering fume spewing truck driving by my house without stopping while I pay $30 bucks a month for them to do it. And I don't have enough trash to really justify a big heavy metal can, but crows pick the bag apart if I don't put it in something. So DIY trash disposal would solve a number of problems, pollute less and save me some money.

whitepines McCoy wrote:

For the fat scraps, bones, etc.

It's compostable or can be put in a worm bin. Or simply buried in the garden.

We don't pay for trash pickup, instead going to the county collection station every couple of months. Kitchen trash is stored in trash cans until dump day. No serious stench problems if all food residues are composted, but even slight traces will draw raccoons hence the trash cans.

I have a friend who freezes all meat wrappers and meat scraps until garbage day. I sometimes pick up the meat scraps and feed them to crows and ravens, The small volume and light weight of these foam and plastic wrappers makes them a non issue in the freezer.

We never have "meat scraps." We either eat all meat or feed it to the dog. Bones are picked almost completely clean by the time they finally go into the garden.....