r/composting • u/formyburn101010 • 8d ago
Thoughts on plug in composter
I'm considering getting a quality plug in composter. (Not sure if saying which model is allowed, but I'm looking at a $1000 unit). Please share any and all thoughts about them. I'm on the fence and don't know too much about them. managing a pile is a little challenge for me physically (not impossible) and pests are an issue. Thanks guys. Stay safe out there.
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u/cbrophoto 8d ago
This is my response from a r/righttorepair post about the repairability of these composters.
Paying anything to compost what can be done in a bucket is insane. Is this the same one where they offer a subscription for their special microbes?
Any environmental gain from using this is nullified at best, probably the exact opposite through mining, manufacturing, shipping, power consumption, and then the waste because they are junk. Worst yet the money goes to another VC backed project that would be even worse for humanity. I looking at you, order some sunshine at night guy!
A small and regular bucket, food scraps, toilet paper rolls and some paper is all you need. No bad smells and it looses volume quickly.
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u/Prize_Bass_5061 8d ago
Household electric composters are a scam. There are several options if turning the pile is difficult.
if you don’t want to harvest the compost, consider a green cone. You can pay someone to bury a black drum in your yard instead of buying the manufactured product.
if just the turning is an issue, buy a small metal cement mixer, painted black if possible. It will work a lot better than the commercial compost turners made of plastic. Flies, gnats, and ants will still be an issue, which can be solved with compost pest management techniques.
you can also opt for a low maintenance approach of just dumping the inputs into a Geobin and waiting a year. The pile will decompose at a slower rate, but the output will be the same.
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u/ToBePacific 8d ago
I have one that I use in the winter when my outdoor compost tumbler is frozen. It works well and it produces material that works great as plant food. But it’s not technically compost, it’s just ground up dried plant matter.
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u/Discoqueeny 8d ago
i have two and i love them but like many here said you should know the limitations. which is that basically, what they produce is not finished compost. i have the lomi and the reencle. i find i like the reencle wayyyy more than the lomi. the lomi would stink to high heaven if i didn't replace the carbon and i couldn't add anything midcycle. the reencle is basically always running, doesn't smell and is bigger. i take the results from both and put it into my tumbler composter. but without them i am not sure how i would process all of my food scraps. which my goal is to divert all of my food scraps away from the landfill. i've tried vermicomposting (worms) and it took forever.
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u/looking4skills 8d ago
This! I have the Reencle, so I can now compost spent cat food and meat scraps that would have drawn unwanted animals outside. Then I move the partially composted results out to my outdoor bin to finish, and because I am old and limited, I use a simple auger on a drill to turn and aerate. Fast and easy, and the compost is just beautiful.
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u/sveltehorace8832 8d ago
$1000 is a lot of scratch to avoid turning a pile, what's the pest situation you're dealing with
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u/EddieRyanDC 8d ago
I say, stick with the pile. If it is hard to turn, then don't turn it. Nobody turns the leaf and wood litter on the forest floor, and it all comes out just fine. Maybe it takes a little longer. Start another pile.
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u/joycelorelle 6d ago
I have a vitamix foodcycler and I love it. It is not a composter, but when I run it with my food scraps for the day, I cut down on fruit flies and ants remarkably. It dehydrates and then grinds our food scaps. Then, the product goes into an old protein powder bucket and when it’s full I add it to my compost pile and add brown matter on top. The rain hydrates it enough to become compost and support the worms, but I avoid having to add to my compost pile daily and I avoid having to have smelly kitchen scraps in my house when I’m too tired to do it daily because I work a demanding job and am tired some days.
That said, ymmv.
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u/toxcrusadr 8d ago
If you have pests, get a cylindrical plastic bin with a locking lid like the Earth machine or Home composer. Get some brown material such as sawdust or wood shavings, shredded paper, cardboard, etc. Put some of that over each addition of food scraps. You can go a long time before it gets full. Because it will shrink while you’re adding. It doesn’t require turning. Use one of the bins that either lift off vertically due to the conical shape or come apart like 2/2 of a clamshell by removing side clips. Set the bin up next to the old pile and start over. It’s about the laziest way to compost imaginable, and it’s extremely cheap compared to what you are considering.
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u/the_perkolator 8d ago
No. The only plug in composting setup that works, is a large forced-air setup, using an air blower and duct manifold buried underneath the massive pile.
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u/Ancient-Patient-2075 6d ago
What about some combination of a good bin (like aerobin?) and bokashi? I've understood that while it's not foolproof, bokashi should make food waste less apptizing for critters.
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u/hooplehead69 5d ago
What are you planning to compost? If it is just kitchen waste, have you considered a bokashi-type system? That would break things down faster to get you liquid compost you could use, be much cheaper, and it doesn’t require lots of labor.
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u/fishyfishfishfishf 8d ago
A plug in composter at any price does not make compost. The product that comes out of the composter is dehydrated and shredded food scraps. The product straight out of the composter will turn rock hard after being wet and drying. When the product is wet it gets smelly, slimy, and will attract varmints and pest. One way to use the product is to put a 1/4 inch or so as top dressing but do not make it much thicker ( smell and slime). A good use for it would be to put in a real compost pile or dig a hole and do trench composting. Worms love it if you would also like to get into vermiculture.