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How
to Make Indoor Compost
From Banana Peel to
Humus Entirely Inside your Kitchen
Making compost
solely from kitchen waste is difficult.
It's wet; it's green; it accumulates at all the wrong times.
Typically, people turn to worm boxes for their indoor
compost. Maybe they try Bokashi.
But there is a third, entirely automated system designed to make
completely indoor compost--the NatureMill composters.
 NatureMill
makes several composters that are designed to address the
difficulties in composting kitchen waste. They are completely
self contained systems which maintain the perfect environment for
naturally occurring bacteria to decompose your garbage. They
use aerobic decomposition, so they mix and aerate the compost to keep
the bacteria happy. They regulate the temperature.
They maintain the correct wetness. And they do all this
without smell.
First, let's look at the pro's and con's of the NatureMill composter.
NatureMill Composter Pros:
- Maintains proper
temperature.
- Mixes the indoor compost
mixture for maximum aeration.
- Maintains proper wetness
(within reason--if you only
add very dry material, it has no way to add moisture.
However, if you add very wet kitchen waste, the extra water will drain
out.)
- Your composting is
indoors--no more running to the
compost bin in the middle of the winter.
- It works all year
round--no more stinking piles in
the spring after the thaw.
- No worms in the house.
- Very
convenient. Just plug it in, put a
couple of scoops of the soil outside your house, and you're ready to go.
- Accepts pet waste.
Take care of 2 composting problems in one!
NatureMill Composter Cons:
- It uses
electricity. While the amount is
very low--5 kwh / month (which in Wisconsin in the winter of 2009 is
about $2.00/month), if you are very eco-conscious, this may not be for
you.
- You will need to chop
your indoor compost waste into
small pieces--around 4" in size for it to be most effective.
This may not be a huge drawback but it does involve a little fussing.
- "Brown Matter":
You can add almost any
indoor compost, but you do
have to have a little awareness on the best environment for your
bacteria friends. You must add "brown" matter--they
recommend:
- --sawdust, wood
shavings (untreated, unpainted wood)
- --bread, rice, pasta,
grains
- --nuts, nut shells,
straw
- --dry flowers, small
yard leaves
- --coffee grounds,
paper filters
- If you have these items,
there is no
problem.
But in my house, these items are much scarcer
than
my "green" kitchen waste. Office paper, junk mail and
newspapers are not recommended so this may be a problem. You
can buy sawdust pellets from NatureMill, or you could use pellets from
a
pellet stove, straw from a gardening supply house, or even clean wood
chips from you gerbil cage, but all these solutions involve buying
"brown" compost matter.
You only add 1 cup sawdust pellets
for every 5 cups kitchen waste, but you still must supply that
much. Not very green to the purist, but totally OK to the
practical soul.
- The NatureMill
system does have a
motor which runs for several minutes every 4 hours. While it
runs, you may hear "whirring and snapping sounds". After that
you will only hear the hum of the air pump. It is very quiet
but you still may hear some noise.
- The NatureMill is designed to
have no smell. It uses an air pump to keep the compost
aerated and the air passes through a carbon filter to remove odor.
However, no composting system is entirely without odor.
The filter must be replace every 4-5 years for about $8.00 US.
- This is a pricey
system--it's convenient (just plug
and play), but you pay for it.
NatureMill makes two models.
 The NatureMill
Plus does everything an average
family needs.
It makes compost within 2 weeks, It has all the main
features. It comes with a 1 year warranty.
The NatureMill
Pro is the fancy model and would be good for large
families or composting a lot of food scraps. It has stainless
steel internal components for heavy use, a vacation energy saving mode,
and a foot petal for easy opening. It has a 3 year warranty.
There are six
cool colors to choose from.
Like any composting system, making indoor compost can take a while to
get the feel for it. Expect a trial and error time.
Learn more about the NatureMil Composter:
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