My bucket worked perfectly to bleed out my power steering system this morning. I wonder what else we can use these for? Chamber pot? Cat box? The possibilities are endless!

I struggled a bit with the lid closing as well. You have to really press on it until you hear a very secure CLICK sound, which does actually happen.

I was a skeptic, but after seeing how much food waste we put into this thing (we have two kids under 5, so there are many scraps produced as a result) I'm cautiously optimistic. Smart move to roll it out during the winter, though. Our trash, with one kid in diapers and a 70 lb dog doing his thing in the backyard, will NOT smell good in the middle of the summer. I foresee a number of furtive midnight deliveries to the local elementary school's garbage bin.

You'll have to take a number; you'll have lots of company.

The bucket is ugly. On ours the writing in the front is crooked as well, and our lid doesn't close. I also know that out of the 8 neighbors I talked to last weekend, 7 of them have lids that don't close either. What a total joke! I just can't understand why this change needs to happen. If one of the 3 mayoral candidates were to promise to stop this nonsense, I would vote for them in a heartbeat.

Dave J: having to push super hard on something to get it to latch is a joke. Ours won't even line up properly to click.

Can the chamber pot be recycled in the plastics bin? If you happen to lose the bucket, can it be replaced without a fine/fee?

Everyone should look on the bottom of the new slop buckets and see the made in Canada marking. The city couldn't even find a local or even US manufacturer. I thought Mayor Pedophile was all about local sourcing...

If you think the bucket is ugly, just cut out this picture and put it on the side of the bucket.

What happens if you just don't use the slop pail at all? What if one does ones own composting?

That's exactly what we did Garage wine - the caption is different however.

I feel for all you folks stuck with the idiocy of the Sam & Randy schmucks. Here in the Reno area we have a much simpiler garbage system, with once bin for papers, another bin for glass bottles and a HUGE Rolling Garbage Can - larger than the one we had in Portland - for all of $51.06 for 90 days of weekly collections..
Oh - and if you have large cardboard boxes you can leave them out with the trash and they will pick them up at no extra charge.

I'm lining mine with old plastic bags from Freddies.

We got our bucket last week but they delivered it on the front steps. It was dark and when I left to go to work I stumbled over it not knowing it was there. Damn it I don't care if it closes or was made in another country or not. I want to know which one of their goons put it where people walk? I almost wish I would have done a face plant. That bucket would have been the slop bucket that laid the golden slop.

We received our slop bucket last week, and it's a thing of beauty. We've set it in one of the bathrooms, where most things brown go around here. Whether or not the lid closes is irrelevant; we may use it to hold cleaning supplies, as we don't have a cat. On the other hand, it may eventually find service as a dvd holder.

We won't be using it for the Grand Experiment, the photo of happy hippies in their marketing pieces notwithstanding.

Test area resident, here.

We were already composting and had been for years. I've three working black plastic compost towers and a funky old used lumber compost bin, we put compostables in repurposed Nancy's yoghurt tub.

We tried the Sam Rand bucket, and tossed it aside after two weeks. It's still waiting to be repurposed.

It's too big for accumulating over a several days or a week, so the older stuff starts to putrify...which stinks. We find the Nancy's half gallon tub to be the best size for us.

Oh, and after a week and putrifaction in your bucket, you will need to wash it. Fastidiously and frequently.

Yes, the lid is a PITA. It's not necessary, but white breads don't want to have to look at their food scraps.

We deemed it not only not necessary, but unsustainable. They made new tools for ones that should have been reused materials. Plastics should be minimized, they've maximized it. Lastly, it's mechanically hauled and processed. That's more petrol...when it's not even really necessary. Plus, it wastes more water than need be...I guess they're angling on more 'colloteral damage' dollars from all the bucket washing being done to try to get rid of the Sam Rand stench.

Pssst...we now line our compost tub with lightweight compostable 'plastic' bags. I'm testing that approach now.

Best addition for improving on-site composting: chickens.

Pssst...

Don't put the lid on tight. It will encourage anaerobic bacteria growth, which will stink far worse and stronger than the off-gassing of the aerobic bacteria.

This latest "Portlandtoid" is the first item on the newest page (4) of my list of reasons why we live in unincorporated Washington County. Which is where we will continue to ensconce ourselves until we can extract ourselves from this state.

I'm worried, no bucket, f&jket.

Take your full compost pails to that sustainability Eco conference at PSU next week and leave them! Iconic! And so green.

Maybe we can donate them to the occupiers downtown so that they can clean up after themselves?

Halloween candy bin?

I'm printing Sams picture out. And using that to line the bucket. Or I will, once I get done killing fruit flies.

I think throwing it in the 'plastics' recycling bin will work.

I used to help run a PDC funded 'rehab' of an apartment complex in St. Johns. They used us to test some new recycle bins. The huge rolling ones. These were filled with garbage in like 2 days and then they told me I would have to clean them out.
So I did. Then I used some local toughs to help me pick them up and put them upside down. Took several grown men to do it.
Problem solved. I love getting creative.

So during the winter months when I have no yard debris for the green cart only food waste picked up weekly, will I be allowed to put any snow from the yard in it for Portland to compost?

Oh man, love some of the comments, almost choked on my lunch. Helps me be happier and happier about having to leave the PNW due to lack of jobs. Down here in Houston, we get garbage pickup twice a week and their idea of recycle is newspapers and cardboard ... and that's about it. They will pick them up once a week - or throw it in the garbage.

My yard debris container is already half full with actual yard debris, and the trees in my yard still dropping leaves. I wonder how well the extra yard debris bags will hold up when I start stuffing my "organic waste" into them?