But then again, it's liberating to free up cuttings from veggies, banana peels, fruit peels, garlic and onion peels, fallen leaves from the garden, egg shells, and used coffee grounds from the trash and put them to good use in the garden. Some may say it's practically negligible but I disagree. It's something. And months down the road, I have a free resource for the growing plants to feed on, stuff that would have otherwise added to the landfill.
There's really no secret to it. Just make sure you cut down the sizes of the cuttings if you can, crush the eggshells, cut the fruit peels to smaller pieces so that these can decompose faster. I've even read one article that recommends putting the veggie and fruit cuttings in a blender so they can be reduced to smaller sizes which is well and good, except that I don't have a blender and that just adds up to electrical consumption anyway. Nature is intelligent and even without earthworms, these stuff will decompose. Just give them time.
I also switched from a plastic pail to a medium-sized unglazed terracotta pot so that the liquid can leach out and the soil with the upcycled materials get to be dry, even the coffee ground which tend to be wet coming from the French press. Adding soil will keep out most of the fruit flies and insects, keep the odor in check, and hasten the decomposition process. Avoid putting in fatty stuff or diseased leaves so as to avoid contaminating the whole pot as well as not attract the insects.
