i'm in WV, and we compost. there's *tons* of info online about what you can and cannot compost. you have to mix the household trash with brown and green (ie shreeded tree limbs, hay or straw, and grass clippings). also you shouldn't compost dairy and meat (if you eat dairy or meat) and things with a lot of oil on them (like salad greens) because they take a long time to decompose and attract animals.
for collecting scraps inside we just keep a small airtight container on the counter to toss stuff into.
for outside, we bought this neat piece of flexible recycled plastic for cheap at Lowe's or something with holes in it that surrounds our heap and helps contain it while keeping animals at bay and allowing it to properly aerate. you can buy compost tumblers that are fancy bins that you spin around to quicken the decomposition process.... or you can just pile it in a heap
composting is awesome - between that and recycling (and trying to avoid packaged stuff when possible) we hardly generate any trash at all!
happy composting!
