The verdict is in on the NatureMill indoor composting system–not so hot. This review echoes the sentiment of Wasted Food reader Sandy who expressed her disappointment via comment.
It’s a shame that the NatureMill doesn’t smell so hot, because I was hoping it’d be an answer for urban dwellers without composting space. The contraption has real potential to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills (which leads to increased methane/greenhouse gas emissions) and is a waste of those organic nutrients.
On a happier note, I recently became aware of a new contender for indoor composting. Check out the Bokashi Empowered System, which lets you compost anything indoors, including meat and seafood. All you do is sprinkle some magic Bokashi dust (yeasts and bacteria) atop each layer of food waste as you fill the container. When it’s full, you seal it for two weeks (while using the auxilary bin) and then have some nice compost.
The cool people at Pouch seemed really positive about the method. While this UK blogger is pretty excited about her burgeoning Bokashism, she hasn’t had it long. Amazon is all over Bokashi and I’m sure you can find it elsewhere, too. Drop me a line if you have first-hand experience with Bokashi. Of course, there’s always composting with worms!
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I feel a responsibility to temper my last comments on the Naturemill. There may be an adjustment period for the cultures in there or something because while we haven’t really changed what we’ve been doing, the smell has gone away. (One possible tip is to not back the unit all the way up to a wall — maybe it interfered with circulation/filter?)
I also haven’t been noticing the churning noise anymore during the night — so maybe there’s an adjustment curve there, as well.
As for the compost, it’s coming out pretty dry. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I’ve stashed some of it on house plants and my building’s rose bushes of my apartment building. Nothing’s died yet :).
Hmm…maybe it’s too early to bury the NatureMill.
Anyone else have experience with this indoor composting contraption?
I’m afraid that I don’t know anything about the NatureMill, but I can vouch for the Bokashi which is great.
We love vermicomposting! We’re vegetarians, so not putting in greasy meat is no problem. No smell, cute worms wriggling around (makes the cats *nuts*), lives in a little rubbermaid near the garbage we toss the veg in. 1br apartment in New York. No one even notices , unless we show them.
We compost with CHICKENS – we buy what we think we can eat, put on our plates what we expect to finish, and everything else (we are vegetarians) but coffee grounds (go into garden) goes to the chicken yard to be completely consumed immediately or after rotting by a number of hens we raise for a (very) small egg business. Works great, but we are moving to the Bay area and may have to give up our poultry for a while so we are looking into indoor composting.