Even though the ceramic pot is prettier and claims to be dishwasher safe, I think it looks like a much bigger pain to clean than the bucket. It would come down to whether you are more worried about the appearance of it in your kitchen or the convenience. Me, I'd go for the latter. Anything with a rounded body and a lip like the ceramic one requires digging around to really clean it properly.

I confess I don't compost: I don't have anywhere to do it. Food waste goes down my disposal except on the rare occasion it's too big, in which case it goes in the Dumpster. But I do recycle aluminum, plastic, paper, and glass religiously. Like Katy, I put paper in a paper grocery bag and plastic in a plastic grocery bag; I put the bottles and cans in a paper bag that I empty into the recycling container and then drop in the paper recycling. With so little space I tend to do a trash run once a day.