Thanks for this post. I sent them a note saying I learned of NatureMill on TreeHugger. Perhaps they'll put you on their holiday card list.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing my wife's face when she learns we won't need to make trips to the tumbler outside all winter!

This post contains yet another agonizing confusion of energy and power. POWER, for those of you who have forgotten your high school physics, is the RATE OF EXPENDITURE OF ENERGY. So when you say that 10 W is less than what a garbage truck uses to haul away your trash, you're technically right, because average power consumption of a garbage truck is probably in the kilowatts, but this number is virtually meaningless because what actually matters is the amount of ENERGY used to dispose of the waste. Diesel fuel contains ENERGY, not POWER. The composter, we know, expends 10 W x 24 hrs = 0.24 kWh/day of ENERGY. Notice that's kilowatt-hours (a unit of energy), not just kilowatts (a unit of power). How much energy does it actually take for a garbage truck to dispose of your 5 lbs of waste on top of whatever else it's disposing of? I have no idea. Not a very meaningful comparison, now is it?

Sorry, I just had to say this, because the power/energy mixup is something that is repeated over and over on sites like treehugger, and it's a very important thing for environmentalists to understand if they are to be taken seriously.

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't up on the math. Now I am. Great post.

As a practical matter, however, the comparison between whether one should employ this device or toss it out to a garbage truck is, pardon the pseudo-pun, apple cores and orange peels. The reality, I think, is that this device's true contribution will be to increase composting in the absolute becuase it makes it convenient. Electricity's contribution to man is convenience on a wire if you think about it. This seems like a whole lot better use of electricity than many other things I can think of.

Chris, you're right about power and energy. People confuse them which makes it hard to understand the true environmental impact. In this case, I think Nature Mill got it right on their web site, but Treehugger misquoted their 10 watts as "energy" rather than power.

The tech specs page of the Nature Mill website has a blurb called "power", listing it as 10 watts (correct) which by your calculation is 0.24 kWh/day of energy (also correct). Assuming people have weekly trash pickup, that's 1.5 kWh/week of energy which costs about 15 cents. Now I'm no scientist, but I can certainly believe that a trash truck uses a WHOLE lot more than 1.5 kWh to move 35 lbs of trash 50 or 100 miles to the nearest dump site. It would show up as decreased fuel efficiency. And trash trucks burn diesel which is much dirtier than gas fired electric power plants, kWh for kWh.

But I think we're missing the big picture. It's ALWAYS better to clean up your mess when and where you create it, rather than trucking it around and around, and ultimately just dumping it in a heap somewhere else for future generations to deal with. Way to go Nature Mill!

The problem I see with this product is that if you don't have the space to compost outdoors, where are you going to put the compost you make? How much use will this machine get if you're an urbanite with window boxes? If you have any moe space than that you can compost the old-fashioned way. Heck, I compost coffee grounds odor free in my kitchen in a bucket of dirt without the benefit of fancy computer controls.

I live in an urban area with a small yard that's totally visible from the street. I use the city's compost program because there's nowhere to hide a bin or pile in my yard.

I'm thrilled about this product and am already imagining the nice layers of mulch that will cover all my planting beds. If I have too much compost, I know my neighbors will be happy to use up what I can't use.

Kerrie

I purchased one of these units and have had it for about four days now. I live in the city, and will be bartering my compost for garden veggies from my neighbours who have gardens (I don't, but I do grow lots of herbs and some vegetables on my balcony in summer and will be using compost for that as well).

Overall it looks like a good product, but I have a few caveats. It is noisier than expected; Naturemill says the sound of the air pump should subside after a few days but so far it's still quite loud: a constant background hum that's louder than that of my refrigerator. The other thing to be aware of is that opening the hopper to put in new compost releases some pretty strong odors after you have a few days' worth of table scraps in there. It doesn't empty them into the reactor chamber every day, so decomposition starts happening in the hopper and depending on what you've put in there it can smell pretty rank. The manufacturer advises adding baking soda to the hopper (and even ships some with the unit), but even with that the smell is powerful. To clarify: there is no odor from the unit unless you open the hopper door, but you will be opening the door periodically to put in more table scraps, paper, etc. and in our small apartment the smell quickly spreads throughout the living space.

If I had to do it over again I'd try to find a small outdoor tumbler for the balcony, but I'll stick with the Naturemill for a few months and see how it works out.

I just got one of these great little machines and WOW it is just what I have been looking for. It has a computer inside and you can hear the motor whirring around now and then. It's pretty simple to use if you read the instructions - and you have to read the instructions because after all - it's compost! Living and breathing and all. This is MUCH easier than my old outdoor tumbler.

They put the list of foods you can use right on the lid which I have never seen on any composter before. I was surprised about composting meat and fish and dairy - I guess it's because the thing gets really hot inside and kills off the bad stuff. It says no lemons and limes, but I called them (they actually answer their phone!) and they said a little is ok so long as you go easy on the acidity. The fan started out a little noisy but once the food gets in it calms down quite a bit and now I can't really hear it at all. Maybe it was hungry?

I got my first batch of compost out and it looks yummy! I am dying to use it but I have to wait until spring because my garden is basically dead this time of year. My only wish is that they hurry up and make a bigger one that I can use for my yard waste (the current one can handle about 5-10 dinner plates per day which is only enough for the kitchen scraps).

This composter is amazing! I've had mine for a couple months and all I can say is go out and get one now before the whole world discovers it and they run out of stock again (I had to wait a couple months for mine because they were sold out). You can actually see steam rising from the compost which means it is really hot. My backyard bin never did that! My Naturemill composter does not smell at all - I mean not even a little. I guess because it is so hot and is mixing in the new stuff down into the "reactor" continuously and out of the way. I've also been very careful about following the directions and calling their 1-800 number when I'm not sure about some kind of food.

The finished compost is really black and smells kind of like mud. That's the only way I can describe it. One thing I learned is to not put garlic into the mix because then your finished compost smells a little garlicky which is fine with me by my husband doesn't like that in the yard. I know these types of composters are available to schools and prisons, etc., and it's about time someone made them on the household scale!

I urge anyone reading this not to ever consider buying this piece of garbage "so called composter". This whole thing is a scam. My compster has never worked and they do not support the product at all. They refuse to talk to you unless you carry your composter serial number wherever you go. My composter leaks some sort of toxic juice all over my kitchen floor and has never worked. This product and this company are the worst. They ripped my off for $400 don't let the same thing happen to you.

I would like to retract my previous comment about Narure Mill not supporting their product. Although they have a few bugs to work out with the unit, they did resolve my issue and are refunding me my money for the unit.