Unsung Heroes in the Urban Farm Kitchen

Ah the plastic takeout container! These round polypropylene take out containers are essential in a modern urban garden. They are usually given to me by friends who get takeout lunch from Chinese food or dinners from better restaurants. I love them. They are cheap (free!) sterilizable, reusable, come with lids (which I lose quickly) and aid in portion control. Oh, and they are recyclable. I can quickly and efficiently gather food scraps from dinners or past prime leftovers in the fridge and port it all out to the ducks, chickens, rabbits, worms, and compost.

[media-credit id=3 align="alignnone" width="300"]I started at Mezzacello with cute precious stainless steel buckets. While they were useful and reusable, they were difficult to clean and sterilize. Enter the takeout container. It greatly increases my efficiency and is far easier to manage. I still use my compost pails, but mostly for food scraps like onion, tomatoes, potatoes, and avocados which are dangerous for chickens and ducks. Those just go to worms or compost once a week.[media-credit id=3 align="alignnone" width="300"][/media-credit]Regarding recyclability, the takeout containers usually last a few weeks before they start to crack. That’s when I cut them up into strips, shred them in a paper shredder and either recycle them, melt them into mats that I use in rabbit cages so the rabbits aren’t standing on wire all day, or mats for the bottoms of chicken nesting boxes, or in a system that can turn PPE #4 into filament for 3D Printers. At Mezzacello nothing goes to waste.