My grandparents have one, because they live out in the country where there is no garbage pickup...and so they want the smallest amount of trash possible when they are hauling it to the dump.

I'd love to have one, personally, but I just can't give up the room in my kitchen for it.

Maybe they are out of style because going "green" is IN style?

Yes, in our town the garbage is not paid for by taxes either, but the commercial waste-haulers charge monthly subscription regardless of the weight/volume, so that's not the issue... Maybe they are out of style because going "green" is IN style?

I don't get this  are garbage-compactors particularly "non-green"? Thanks!

This house had a trash compactor when we bought it, and my husband liked it so much that it was on his "must have" list for the new kitchen. We have a large family, though, so it is nice to have ONE bag to haul out each week, instead of each day.
We don't put anything smelly in it, though. That would creat a huge drawback!

We love, love, love ours. And yes, we're putting one in our new lake house kitchen. I believe there have been some posts over on the appliance forum, as well as some previous posts on this forum. If you do a search you should find them and be able to read why some people (such as myself) love them and others hate them.

HUMMM, How green can you go with garbage. I don't know that question but I can tell you we like having our trash compactor for these reasons, No trash can standing in the way or taking up room under the sink.
Whats the big deal, they make a cabinet just for placing a trash can in to hide it don't they?

It's your place, do what you want and if the KD doesn't want to do it you can show him/her the door :)

We don't put any food or other stuff that would smell.

We had one in the old house, but didn't put one into the new house. Two weeks in and I really miss it. It was great only having to empty the kitchen trash 1x/week. The downside - it could get YUCKY and very heavy. I didn't put it in the new kitchen because I wanted it next to the sink, but didn't want to give up cabinet space and honestly, didn't like the look of them (also found the nice ones to be more expensive than I had expected). I did also let my CA and Seattle friends convince me that they were all moving to composting, recycling and getting rid of much of the garbage (of course they don't have 4 kids:)).

This is totally my take on trash compactors. I think they were "in" in the 70s and 80s and a lot of people had them in their kitchens then. Every TC I've ever seen has been dirty and gross and stinky. Or no longer used as a compactor, just used as a normal trash bin. That is not to say that everyone keeps theirs that way, just that the ones I have seen were like that. My conclusion is that most people don't use them correctly. They either fill them up with stinky stuff that just gets stinkier as days go by, or they don't keep them clean, or whatever it takes to keep them from getting yucky. Thus the decline in popularity.

It seems that those who love their TCs know how to use them as evidenced by the comments above. I wouldn't own one simply because it wouldn't work for me. I do want to throw stinky stuff in the garbage, but I'm willing to take out the garbage daily (which is what we pretty much do) in order to get the smells out asap. I don't have a need to let the stuff collect up, nor do I have a need to compact it.

Why aren't they as popular anymore? I think the novelty wore off. People got them at first because it was the new cool gadget to have. As time went on, people realized they didn't like them after all. I think TCs sort of fill a niche -- there are those who like them and need the function they supply, but the majority of folks don't need or want one. Thus the decline in popularity.

If you feel that a TC would fill your needs, then by all means, get one, and don't let anyone talk you out of it.

"Green" refers to recycling. If you remove all paper, cardboard, bottles and cans from your trash, then remove all the wet (smelly) garbage, how much do you have left over to put into the compactor?

I never had one, but here are my thoughts on why I want one:
- Popularity is not a factor; I do what's best for me.
- I have the option of going with private trash pick-up or taking my trash cans to the landfill myself 4 miles away every 3 weeks or so. Compacted trash will require fewer trips (most of my trash bags presently is air!). I pay $5 for a max of 5 trash cans (usually about 35-50 gal). Sometimes the attendant lets me go in for nothing. Gas and pickup truck wear and tear is minimal. I often make the return trip with a load of free mulch or firewood offered at the landfill site. Bottom line, I save money.
- I compost organic non-meat waste, and I recycle cans, glass, plastic, metal, paper, and cardboard at our county recycling centers. All that goes into my trash is none of the above. If I have a chicken or turkey carcass, I freeze it in a plastic bag until just before my trip to the landfill. Therefore, compactor odor should be a non-factor.
- I am expanding my kitchen area with an open floor plan, so reducing cabinet space with a compactor is not an issue.

I just found out that by using my trash compactor I was actully being green! I read in the paper last weekend that if everyone used a trash compactor we would reduct the amount of landfills needed by 80%! That seemed amazing to me and I don't have the actual research to back it up, but I feel good about reducing my own trash.

A lot of people like them, but I'd never put one in. I always had them growing up (my mom apparently loved them). She never put anything in them that could smell (so she didn't get the "benefit" of taking out the trash 1x week), and I never really got the advantage of having one. I do remember my BF's mom pulling out a mass of stinky, dripping garbage from hers. She obviously put *everything* in and that image is very firmly imprinted in my head. There was one page article in the May issue of House Beautiful discussing how wonderful they are. Still not convinced.

It's obviously a matter of whether you like it or not. Warming drawers come in and out of fashion as well.

I think a big reason for the decline is trash sorting. We have three cans here--major metropolitan area--for city pickup. Vegetable trimmings and garden trimmings go in one; all recyclables including all paper, cans, bottles, plastics 1-7 and plastic films, go in another; and unrecyclable garbage in the third. There's really nothing left to mash, and the city supplied cans are big enough to hold everything.

Since we also have deposits on beverage bottles, I have an extra recycling bag for those, for the kids to take in for change.

So instead, the trend is to having trash pullout drawers, which have improved in design a lot in the last twenty years, which have 2, 3 or even 4 bins, depending on your customization.

None of this applies if you live in the country or in a town with no recycling. And if all your trash is going into a landfill, as Jen said, it's actually better to compact it.

And if you just like them, why not? It's your kitchen.

It also depends on how you pay for trash removal. Where I live it comes as a property tax assessment so I pay approximately as much for one bag of trash as my neighbors pay for 4.

The past two houses came with compactors & I couldn't wait to not have one in our new house. Smelly or messy trash can't go in a compactor, so the compactor sat collecting paper while we had a free standing trash can (always in the way) & no place for recyclables.

In our new house, we installed a two bin pullout, with one removable bin for trash & the other for recycling, and it was far less expensive. With recycling & composting, we just don't have as much trash, and I don't want trash sitting in our house for more than 2 days. Our city supplies a "free" recycling cart the same size as our trash cart, so it's easy to recycle now & we don't need an extra trash cart like so many of our neighbors pay for.

Compacted trash is very heavy. A compactor requires special bags, is very noisy, a hazard for young children, & is a pain to keep clean. Some compactors lock up if they fail; you wouldn't want this to happen for 3 or 4 days before you can get service on it.

I don't understand the idea that a compactor saves landfill space because the garbage collection truck smashes the same trash, probably much more effectively than a kitchen unit.

Well, ignore the designer. Your kitchen. You get what you want. What's popular only matters when you sell and the whole kitchen will be outdated by then! They make sense for some people and not others and there's no one answer.

I stopped using mine because it broke. It came with the house and predates recycling. We used it for recyclables (less stinky) and still needed a container for regular trash. We will use a multibin pullout instead, in about the same space.

I don't see how it could be dangerous to kids though...

sushipup hit the nail on the head: "Green" refers to recycling. If you remove all paper, cardboard, bottles and cans from your trash, then remove all the wet (smelly) garbage, how much do you have left over to put into the compactor?

We had a trash compacter come with the home we bought 15 years ago. At first I thought it was a great idea. But we were already big into recycling and composting. It comes naturally when you spend summers at the lake cabin with no trash pick up. Even with three kids we could never fill our trash container and saw no need to keep the compactor. I opted for the space instead.

And being "green" just because you're compacting trash that could be recycled or composted doesn't really count IMHO.

People have every right to put what they want in their own kitchen.

But I also think "green" applies to using electricity to compress garbage. I use my boot if I need to. It's vegetable powered!

The volume of trash is much more affected by dehydration, overall, than compression, I'm told. I don't imagine compaction affects it for long.

But that opens up a whole "waste-streaming" can of worms.

I think trash compactors were just more fun in the 70s, and now people are having fun with their iPhones!

I have both a trash compactor and an I phone :P I never had one until I moved to Alaska (TC that is) where they are pretty much standard in every home. We don't let trash sit outside, so it helps contain items until trash day (bears, moose and eagles like trash left outside).

The very old ones could actually operate when partially open, which was a huge danger to small children who's hand could be trapped and crushed or worse. That is not an issue now. they're also better sealed than they used to be...heck both of ours have an optional space for air freshing spray, which we don't use but still..it's there. We take out about a bag a week, sometimes two, which is way way way less than we'd normally have without one. I can't imagine being without one.

We're adding one to our design plans for the garage as well for soda cans, etc.

I never had one until 6 years ago, and I have loved it. But I still have to have a bin for recyclables. However, over the last 5 yrs I began composting huge amounts of stuff that used to go in the trash/garbage, and now I can see that I would probably like 2 trash-can-size things and don't need the compaction feature so much. At times we may not even be "full" in a week.

What I really like is the foot pedal feature. No hands. So if they keep making cabinetry products to create some kind of 2-bin foot-pedal system, I would probably do that instead of compactor. I would like my recyclable bin to be foot pedal, so I'm not sure I want to have the upkeep/replacement concerns of a compactor and also have additional custom cabinetry.

It's just according to how your trash/recycle/compost system is evolving.

There's 3 adults in our house, no kids. By the time we recycle the newspapers/magazines, the cans/bottles/plastics (they now accept ALL plastics, any kind), and food scraps, there's one 13-gall bag left weekly. No big deal, obviously, so no need for a compactor.

Recycling is mandatory here. If you don't do it, the waste company can refuse to pick up your garbage (although I don't think I've ever heard of them doing so). And you might as well do it, because the only can they charge for is the trash container, assessed per size. The bottles/paper container and the greens/food scrap container are free, no charge.

In CA, not recycling is tantamount to admitting you run over old ladies in crosswalks and beat little kids, LOL! Our neighborhood recently made a big hullaballo about having the first solar-powered public bottle/can crusher installed outside the local Peet's Coffee.

I have a TC, a two bin pullout for recycling (one for cans, one for plastics and cardboard etc) a basket for newspapers and a strainer built into my prep table for composting which gets emptied daily plus a garbage disposal (that's all the stinky stuff I guess). I only recycle items with a triangle and it has to be clean. I have 3 trash cans. One for recycling (everything but cans which we return ourselves) one for greens and one for trash. To have additional cans it costs more money monthly and we only have one pick up a week. With 5 adults and 6 animals (4 cats, 2 dogs) one trash can doesn't go very far. So for me it makes sense.
However, when my sister moved to Texas she couldn't find one since they aren't popular there. But they get pick up twice a week, unlimited cans, so it isn't an issue. The city doesn't recyle either. So mostly it's your personal situation not a design fad. Actually, I've had a TC since the early 70's. My first one wasn't built in and for years I kept it in the garage to crush cans.
Now my daughter lives in an apartment and wishes she had a TC.

I had to laugh when I read this thread. We produce so little garbage that if we used a TC we would probably only take the trash out three times a year! As it is now we only take out one 30 gallon bag every two weeks. We usually roll our can to the curb only once or twice a month. I feel so sad for you folks who do not have recycling in your towns.

Got a TC with our current home; wondered if we'd ever use it. Turns out we love it. So much so, we're having one installed in the island at our new house --- right beside the pull-out bin for recycled items!

SOOOO agree on the foot pedal!

Hi,
From my experience with them, here are a few factoids:
1) yes, they do get gross if you put wet stuff in them. Wet garbage goes in a second under-sink trash can
2)They are wonderful for bulk packaging...crush those salad containers and milk cartons!
3) If you live in an urban/suburban environment with high trash expenses then they are a great idea/value since they can save you a can a week price.
Hope that helps.

Okay. I wanted to point out a couple of things:

First, SMALLER trash and LESS trash are not the same. If you break down a cardboard box before you throw it away it is not actually less trash. It is just ... flatter.

The statement of 80% more room in the landfill is highly misleading. All the more so because it's actually true! If you reorganize your closet to fit in another 200 pair of shoes, cool. Those shoes will last in there indefinitely. If you reorganize a trash heap to fit more trash then it too will be there indefinitely.

Trash needs aeration, water, time etc to eventually breakdown. If you pack the condensed plastic bound garbage into the landfills they won't decompose. The use of recycling/reusing etc lowers the amount of garbage that needs to go to a landfill which at least gives the remaining garbage a possible chance to actually go away. One of the best "green" inventions in recent year is the new trash bags that are biodegradeable.