Try Composting!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
When you compost, you reduce the waste going to landfills as well as the energy it takes to transport it there. The water that goes down your kitchen disposer also has less organic material for the waste treatment plant to process. And you'll improve the soil in your own yard or garden when you later use that compost to fertilize.

Money Saved: ★★★★☆
A compost bin doesn't need to cost anything, it can be just a simple heap in a corner of the yard. But to help prevent spreading and to keep the heat in it is nice to make something to hold it all together. No need to buy one of those expensive plastic tumbling things that probably will end up in the landfill itself in a few years. Some of the homemade designs will work better and not cost you an arm and a leg.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Although it can be a minor hassle to take your kitchen scraps out to the compost heap, there are a number of benefits as well! You'll have to take the kitchen trash out less. If you have a disposal in your kitchen sink, you'll find it clogs less with less waste to digest. You'll have high-quality fertilizer to use in your garden, without worries about pathogens, heavy metals, etc. that might sometimes be found in your typical garden store fertilizers.

What We’re Doing
Our first compost heap was made from a 4-foot high circle of plastic coated "hardware cloth" (wire fence grid) that you can buy in large rolls at garden/ranch stores. You basically make a circle of it and use some twists of wire or cable ties to hold the end together. Compost, grass clippings, shredded paper, raked leaves, etc. all go in the top. The fencing holds it all in while allowing air to circulate into the pile (important to allow aerobic decomposition, which is the kind that doesn't stink!). If the weather is very dry it can be helpful to water it occasionally to make sure it is warm enough to compost rapidly. When you come to need some fertilizer for your garden, you can take the heap apart to stir it up and take the new " fertilizer" dirt off the bottom, where it filters its way down as it decomposes.

After about 8 years, this fence hoop was pretty much worn out - so last year I build Shannon a new compost heap using cedar fencing pickets and a hinge for a gate on the front. This makes it easy to open up and stir the pile when needed. You can see that the chickens enjoy scratching in it during the day, looking for bugs and eating some of the vegetable scraps. We keep a small stainless bucket in the kitchen for the scraps, and just take it out at the end of the day when we're securing the chickens in their coop for the night (look for another post later on that topic!). You can put basically any kind of vegetable (plant) stuff in the pile, as well as shredded paper (as long as it doesn't have glossy color printing on it). Don't add animal products (meat trimmings, fat, bones, etc.) as this will stink as it decomposes and also attract vermin. The only exception I'm aware of is egg shells, which are mainly calcium and are great to enrich the soil.

Links
Here are a few helpful links with information on composting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting
http://www.howtocompost.org/

A Little Humor
Compostaphile and Compostaphobe: To rot or not to rot . . .