At the Amen Ankh Wellness and Agriculture programs, we are master composters. We love to keep our household food scraps out of the trash can. Adding compost retains the soil by adding nutrients and organic matter back into the soil. This benefits agriculture, reduces our reliance on synthetic chemical fertilizers, improves the soil’s water retention capacity so you don’t need to water as much, and diverts methane-producing organic materials out of the landfills. The controlled method of helping food decompose is also much easier (and less grotesque) than you think. Just follow these six pointers.

Set up your space.

Food is going to rot, no matter what. All you have to do is help. You don’t need a lot of technology. “You make the food break down in a way that’s compatible with your life. If you have room in your yard and the temperature where you live is even somewhat moderate, you can fence off an area (3 x 3 x 3 feet is considered ideal) and start your scrap pile directly on the ground. For a tidier arrangement, buy or make bins to contain your organic waste or drums that tumble and aerate it, which helps to convert it to compost even faster. See more details on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website. 
You can even compost indoors, as apartment dwellers: Indoor bins stocked with red worms, can be ordered online, and shipped to your door so you can process food scraps in a smaller space. (This NRDC Tumblr post tells you how to get started.) When you are finished you can donate your compost to your local urban farmer "hint-hint"
Schools, Churches, Restaurants and Grocery stores, Coffee Shops, Barer Shops can get in the mix by composting, or donating their food scraps to local urban farmers...

Master the mix.

A pile of decomposing food might sound like the last thing you want in your backyard or under your kitchen sink. But if you do it right, you will hardly notice it’s there. “If you create the proper balance of materials, you will have aerobic conditions and the micro-organisms that thrive there to break down scraps with little to no odor. There’s an easy, color-coded formula to make sure this happens. 
Add two or three parts carbon-centric “browns” (Paper, Leaves, Hair, and other Dry stuff) for every one part nitrogen-centric “green wet stuff.“ The “browns” include shredded newspaper and other paper, dead leaves, hair, and food-soiled paper napkins. (Just don’t use any coated, waxy or plastic paper, including milk cartons—they won’t break down sufficiently—or any treated or painted wood. Use that to build your containers.) For “greens,“ toss in fruit and vegetable bits (scrape off any plastic stickers first), breads and grains, coffee grounds and filters, and grass clippings. To stash your scraps until you’re ready to haul them out to the yard, you may find it convenient to designate a pail under the sink or a bag in the freezer.

Be selective with your scraps.

There are a few food scraps that should still go out with the trash - your dog, (or into your curbside “green“ bin, if you’re lucky enough to live in a city that accepts food scraps for centralized composting). NO Meat, bones, and dairy products should be in your home compost. They don’t belong in the typical household compost pile, (because you can’t guarantee that the internal heat generated by your compost will reach the temperatures required to kill pathogens that might be there.) When adding food scraps like bread products to your pile, (I just feed mine to the birds) it’s best to add in moderation and bury them in your heap to help reduce unwanted attention from pests. And before you get started on your composting, make sure you’ve followed our helpful tips to reduce the amount of food that gets wasted.

From "Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook" by Dana Gunders

Root the rot.

Worried about care and maintenance? In the summer, use a shovel or old garden fork to turn the pile once a week; in the winter, once every three or four weeks. Using worms is the fastest method of composting. Google about earthworms, "Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot nine days old." Worms outdoors can be challenging. I earned a pet Robin, who politely followed me from a distance or waited for me to leave from my work in the garden. She knew that where i stepped, any worms would scatter from the pressure and vibrations. So, she would often boldly follow me to gobble up any worms that moved away from me. To tell whether your pile needs water, grab a handful; it should feel about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. 
All of the liquid in the bottom of your compost bend is call Compost Tea. Compost Tea is one of the best product you can bottle up into a recycled plastic bottle- and give to your local urban farmer "hint-hint"

Barter your Black Gold.

Over a few weeks, those food scraps and shredded leaves will morph into black gold- rich soil- dark matter. The compost is complete when it has an earthy smell and you can’t recognize any of the items you dropped in. If you have a garden, sprinkle the compost around plants, mix it in with potting soil, or donate it to your local Urban Farmer (hint -hint.)
  Of course, if you live in a city, you may see composting as a really good way to get stuck with a giant tub of dirt. You can barter with your Local Urban growers for a couple of extra pieces of fresh fruit and vegetables by trading your Compost. Try using your compost in houseplants—if it’s really broken down, you don’t even need any soil. You can also share the bounty by offering friends, the whole office, or your children’s school as a free donation to their school garden. (Or give your local Urban Farmer "hint-Hint")

Spread the word.

More and more Urban Farmers are growing local foods, in sustainable ways and more and more local governments are recognizing that food waste is the bulk of what goes to their landfills and are starting to do something about it. About 3,560 community composting programs were documented by the EPA during its most recent count in 2013, and that number continues to grow. These larger-scale operations—often run in tandem with regular curbside garbage pickup, especially in the west coast. Check to see if your city has a composting program, and if not, (DONATE TO YOUR LOCAL URBAN FARMER "HINT-HINT!")