An aircraft trash compactor having an elongated inner chamber (15) which is separated into front and rear chamber sections (21, 24) by means of a movable door or wall (25) disposed transversely across the width of the chamber. The movable door or wall (25) supports the rear panel (26) of the trash container (22) in the front chamber section (21) during the compaction of trash therein and may be moved to an out-of-the-way position to allow the filled trash container (22) to be moved into the rear chamber section (24) for storage or disposal. The filled trash container (22) in the rear chamber section (24) supports the rear panel of a trash container in the front chamber section during the compaction of trash therein.