They aren't for me: the sort of garbage generated in my house these days isn't all that compactible.

2/3 of our "garbage" is actually recycled since it is plastic/metal/glass or paper/cardboard. I can't imagine ever needing the trash compactor - it just seems so messy, smelly and dirty for something inside the house. Not to say you couldn't keep it clean but what a pain the the rear that would be.

I am continually astounded though at the volume of trash produced by neighbors in comparison to their recyclables. I regularly see families of 3 put out 3 or 4 trash barrels at the end of the driveway when we put out 1 barrel that is only a 1/3 full while their are all overflowing. Perhaps they are too lazy to separate the recyclables? Not exactly time consuming...

My thought is that if you feel you need a trash compactor you are not recycling enough (are there still communities in this country without recycling programs?) and should maybe reexamine your consumption patterns but that's just me. To the trash compactor seems to be a vestigial artifact from the 1980's that lost it's raison d'être back in the 1990's when the country seemed to regain its consciousness of environmental issues and recycling took hold.

Each to their own but my vote would be a resounding NO.

Every kitchen I've had had a trash compactor. I think even my parents had one (back in the 70s). BUT I've never used it. Never really saw the point and often, it didn't work as advertised.

If you use one now and want to continue to use one. Get it. But if you don't currently use a trash compactor, I wouldn't recommend it.

We debated getting one as well...but it didn't take us long to decide that we didn't want one. Friends who have one say "you can't put everything in it" meaning some things are not compactable...or will tear it up if you put them in there...I have enough to do other than worrying about whether I can throw something away! Recycle and you'll have less trash...we are glad we said "no thanks" to this item in our kitchen.

I just wanted to offer a different opinion. I am an avid recycler and composter but always still had a good 3-4 bags of trash per week of non recyclable items (my can was not that big located under the sink).

My food scraps go in either the disposl or the composter so my compactor is for all non food waste, non recyclable items. I now have 1 small compacted bag per week which I put out by the curb and I love it. Eventually, I hope that our country develops the abiity (or the desire) to recycle more types of items but for now there are a lot of things that cannot be recycled like laminated cardboards or any plastic without a 1 or 2. These do take up a quite a bit of space in the cans (i.e. milk, cereal boxes, pasta boxes, crackers, yogurt, etc). So although I still generate the same amount of waste, it does take up less space in the landfill.

I just replaced my trash compactor with a wine refrigerator and am thrilled 1) to have the wine cooler and 2) to have the compactor gone - never used it enough to justify taking up the space.

Some people love them, some don't. If you don't have one, you still need someplace to put your trash. My house came with one 26 years ago - not something I would have thought to go out and buy but I learned to appreciate it and when I remodeled 5 years ago, I got another one. Where I live they only pick up trash once a week so I find it comes in handy. It's true you don't want to put smelly garbage in it but I find that even with recycling I still have plenty of stuff to put in it although often now I can go 3 or 4 weeks without having to put out the trash.

If you have to pay by the bag for trash pick-up, then a trash compactor makes a lot of sense. If, like me, you just drag the cans to the curb every week, it makes no sense at all.

At our cabin in Maine, we did have to pay by the bag - so having as few bags as possible was important.

We have had one for 19 years (we bought a spec house), and we will not put another one in when we remodel. We have found it's an issue when we have company (every week, it seems), as no matter how many times we tell people not to, they put food in it (even when we have a trash bag out right by the compactor). Since we don't want the compactor to start smelling, I pull out the food and whatever else is in there -which is definitely not my favorite task. So, I am looking forward to the day when we do not have a compactor.

Thank you so very much for sharing your experiences! Invaluable! It's decided -- we won't be getting it... Tanya