How to Make Compost at Home in a Flat: Bucket and Matka Method
Two lidded buckets or one clay matka, a sack of dry leaves and five minutes a day: that’s all you need to make compost in a flat. Mix one scoop of kitchen scraps with two scoops of dry “browns”, keep it as damp as a wrung-out sponge, stir it once a week, and in about two to four months (faster in summer) you’ll have dark, earthy compost for your pots. This guide on how to make compost at home from kitchen waste gives the exact setup, the ratio in desi kitchen terms, and where to keep the bin when it’s 45°C outside or pouring with rain.
Before you start
- Container: two 15 to 20 litre buckets with lids, or an unglazed matka with holes
- Ratio: 1 part greens (peels, scraps) to 2 parts browns (dry leaves, cardboard) by volume
- Moisture: like a wrung-out sponge, never dripping
- Stir: once a week with a stick or a small khurpi
- Time: about 2 to 3 months in summer, 4 to 6 in winter, plus 2 weeks’ rest
- Place: shade, under a roof, off the floor on two bricks
Prefer to listen? This post as a 5 min video · Video page with transcript
What you need to compost in a flat
Compost is just food scraps that tiny living things (bacteria, fungi, and later mites and bugs) have eaten and turned into something that looks and smells like rich forest soil. Your job is to give them food, air and a little water. Nothing to buy beyond a container.
The bucket setup
Take two plastic buckets of 15 to 20 litres with tight lids; old paint or ghee buckets are ideal once they’re scrubbed clean. Drill eight to ten holes of about 5 mm around the top third of each bucket for air, and four or five in the base so extra liquid can drain. Stand each one on two bricks over an old tray. You fill the first bucket, then let it rest and finish while you fill the second.
The matka setup
An unglazed clay matka does the same job and has one real advantage in our climate. Clay breathes and sweats, so the inside stays cooler and airier than plastic in a May afternoon. Buy one with holes already made, or drill a few 5 mm holes slowly with a masonry bit while dripping water on the spot, because clay cracks if you rush or hammer it. Cover the mouth with a clay lid or a plate.
Browns: collect them first
Skip this and most first bins turn into smelly soup. Before you add a single peel, have a sack of browns ready: dry leaves swept up in autumn, torn plain cardboard, egg trays, shredded plain newspaper, untreated sawdust or a brick of coco peat. Browns are what stop the bin from going wet and sour.
Greens and browns: the 1:2 rule in desi kitchen terms
Think of it as a meal for the microbes. Greens are the protein (nitrogen) and browns are the roti (carbon, their energy), and a bin with too much of either stalls or stinks. By volume, one part greens to two parts browns works well for a small bin. If you add a katori of peels, cover it with two katoris of dry leaves or torn cardboard.
Greens (wet, fresh): sabzi peels and ends, fruit peels and cores, onion and garlic skins, spoiled vegetables, used chai patti (rinsed of milk and sugar), coffee grounds, fresh garden trimmings and flowers from pooja or a vase.
Browns (dry, papery): dry leaves, plain cardboard and egg trays, newspaper without gloss, untreated sawdust, dry grass, coco peat, and the dry husk of corn.
Neutral: rinsed, crushed eggshells add calcium and grit but break down very slowly, so you’ll still see bits months later. That’s fine.
Meat, bones, dairy, oily curries and pet droppings stay out of a small bin, and the reasons are in what not to put in compost at home.
How to make compost at home in a bucket, step by step
- Put a 5 cm layer of browns in the bottom of the first bucket, then a handful of garden soil or old compost. The soil brings in the microbes that do the work.
- Keep a small lidded box by the sink for scraps. Empty it into the bin every day or two, before it starts to smell.
- Chop big scraps into pieces of 2 to 3 cm. A whole cabbage stalk sits there for months; chopped, it’s gone in weeks.
- Tip the scraps in and cover them completely with twice their volume of browns. No food should be showing on top, which is what keeps fruit flies away.
- Squeeze a handful from the middle once a week. A few drops of water is right. Dripping means add dry browns; crumbly and dusty means sprinkle a cup of water.
- Stir the whole bucket once a week with a stick, a khurpi or a long spoon kept only for this. Air is what keeps it smelling of earth instead of drains.
- When the first bucket is about three-quarters full, stop adding to it. Start the second bucket the same way.
- Let the full bucket sit, lid on, stirring every week or two and keeping it damp, until it’s dark and crumbly and you can’t recognise the scraps.
- Give it a final 2 weeks’ rest before you use it, so it finishes breaking down away from young roots.
A small trick that helps
Keep a second, smaller bucket of browns right next to the bin with a scoop in it. If covering the scraps takes one step instead of a trip to the store room, you’ll actually do it every time.
Where to keep the bin in 45°C heat, monsoon and winter
Summer: shade matters more than anything. A black bucket in direct afternoon sun on a Lahore or Delhi balcony can bake the compost dry and cook the life out of it, then stink when you add water. Keep it on the shady side of the balcony, under a stair or beside a wall that gets only morning sun. Check moisture twice a week in June; the matka will need more water than plastic.
Monsoon: rain is the bigger enemy now. Keep the bin under a roof, add extra browns because the air itself is damp, and stir a little more often. Empty the drip tray every few days and never leave water standing in lids or trays, because clean standing water is exactly where the dengue mosquito breeds (more on that in our monsoon mosquito guide).
Winter: everything slows to a crawl in December and January. That’s normal. A sunnier spot is fine now.
How long does compost take at home, honestly?
In a bucket, about two to three months in a hot summer and four to six months in winter, counted from when you stop adding to it, plus a couple of weeks’ rest. The big municipal and farm heaps you see online reach 55 to 65°C in the middle and finish much faster, but a 20 litre bucket is simply too small to heat up like that, so your compost is “cold” and slow. Chopping small, keeping it damp and stirring weekly are the only speed-ups that really work.
What about “compost in 7 days” videos? They show a heap that’s turned daily, or a half-rotted mix that isn’t finished. Put that on seedlings and it can burn roots. How to tell when yours is truly ready, and how much to mix into pots, is in how many days compost takes and how to use it.
Across Punjab and north India, every farmhouse had a roori or khad pit, a heap or pit at the edge of the yard where gobar, straw, ash and kitchen leftovers went all year and came out as khad before sowing. Indian farm programmes later built on this with brick tanks such as the NADEP method, which usually take three to four months. A balcony bucket is the same idea, shrunk to flat size.
Myth: a compost bin always smells
A healthy bin smells of wet leaves or soil after rain. If yours smells of rotten eggs, ammonia or vinegar, the balance is off, and it’s usually too wet or has too many greens. Every smell has a fix, and the full list, plus what to do about fruit flies and maggots, is in compost smells bad or has fruit flies.
You also don’t need a starter powder, curd or gur to “activate” it. A handful of soil does that job, and sugar mostly brings in ants.
Keep the lid on and clipped if you have toddlers, a dog or a cat; children love digging in it and pets go after food smells. Wear gloves or wash hands with soap after handling compost or soil, cover any cuts, and make sure the family’s tetanus jabs are up to date, since soil can carry tetanus. If you’re pregnant, wear gloves for all soil work. Never leave water sitting in trays or lids during monsoon. If anyone in the house has a weak immune system or a lung condition, let someone else turn the bin, because dry, dusty compost can carry mould spores; dampen it first and turn it outdoors.
Compost at home: your questions answered
How to make compost at home from kitchen waste?
Collect sabzi and fruit peels in a lidded bucket, cover each lot with twice its volume of dry leaves or torn cardboard, keep it damp like a wrung-out sponge and stir weekly. It turns into compost in about two to four months depending on the season.
Can you compost in a flat or apartment?
Yes. A pair of lidded buckets or a clay matka on a shady balcony is enough for a small family’s peels. Balance and a lid are what keep it smell-free, not space.
How to make compost at home in a bucket?
Drill small air holes around the top and drainage holes in the base, stand it on bricks over a tray, then layer browns, a handful of soil, and your scraps covered with more browns. Fill one bucket, rest it, and fill a second.
What is the ratio of greens to browns?
For a small bin, about one part greens to two parts browns by volume works well. If it gets wet or smelly, add more browns; if it’s dry and nothing happens, add more greens and a little water.
Compost khad banane ka tarika kya hai?
Compost khad is made by letting kitchen peels and dry leaves rot together with air and a little moisture. The method is the same bucket or matka steps above: one part peels, two parts dry material, stir weekly, keep damp.
How to make compost at home without smell?
Cover every lot of scraps fully with browns, keep it damp but not wet, stir weekly and keep out meat, dairy and oily food. A bin done this way smells of earth.
Can I compost without dry leaves?
Yes. Torn plain cardboard, egg trays, shredded newspaper, untreated sawdust and coco peat all work as browns. Many flat composters use cardboard boxes from deliveries.
Is it safe to compost with children around?
Yes, with a lid that clips shut and hand washing with soap after touching compost or soil. Older children can help chop scraps and cover them with browns, which is a good way to learn where food goes.
Can I add cow dung to home compost?
Only well-aged, dry gobar, and only if you can wash hands and keep it away from food areas. Fresh dung is too wet and strong for a small balcony bin.
How much compost will one bucket make?
Much less than you put in. Scraps shrink a lot as they break down, so a full 20 litre bucket usually ends as roughly a third to a half of that in finished compost.
More ways to waste less at home are in our Zero-Waste Kitchen section.