How to compost at home

Composting at home? You don’t want to be trudging to the bottom of the garden every time you peel, or causing a stink with plastic bags – a worktop mini-bin will keep things neat

Joseph Joseph Stack 4 Food Waste Caddy with Odour Filter, Graphite, Lakeland.com, £27.99

In true JJ style, this is simply and cleanly designed – and it’s small enough to not really notice on your worktop. The flip lid is easy to lift with a protruding tab on the front, so you can even use it with hands full of scraps. The small square odour filter in the lid helps reduce the smell of the decomposing food. You get one with the purchase but packs of two are £7. The filter does its job and there’s no noticeable smell, even after few days. You can use decomposable bags but it works just as well without.

Typhoon vintage kitchen belmont compost caddy, 25L, Tesco.com, £24

Strong, compact and beautifully made, Typhoon’s caddy is designed to be hard-wearing and resistant to rust over “many years of use”. Probably because there’s a 3-litre removable plastic liner within that actually collects the peelings, teabags and egg shells (though you do have the option of using compost bags instead or as well as). It’s certainly not out of place up on the kitchen worktop rather than tucked out of sight, and the filter built into the lid keeps unwanted odours in. Each filter lasts 3-4 months and replacements will set you back £4 a pair. Visually, this knocks our council-supplied brown and green plastic effort into a cocked hat – but essentially they do the same thing, so you’re paying for the aesthetics more than anything.

OXO Good Grips food compost bin – grey, 2.8L, Lakeland.com, £16,

The OXO composter’s best feature is its removable lid, which makes it super-easy to empty and because the inside has smooth curves – and no annoying little corners – it’s incredibly easy to clean too, making it ideal for those less likely to give it a good scrub regularly. There’s no separate interior to lift out or odour filter, but as this caddy is smaller than the Joseph Joseph one, it doesn’t really need the filter. It’s sleek and compact enough to be displayed on the worktop too.

Verdict

The Joseph Joseph bin comes top thanks to it's ability to hold the most and mask any smells that might arise from what's inside, making it worth the price.