This dual bin composter was one of my most exciting purchases this year (yes I’ve been looking forward to getting one for awhile) so I thought I would take the time to review it, even though it’s not really under the purview of this style blog. But then again when has that stopped me from reviewing an item? I’ve always wanted one of these rotating composter, ever since I tried making my own DIY composter about 10 years ago. This easy solution definitely works but it takes awhile (like about a year or more) for everything in the compost to break down. So when I was browsing for a spinning composter (because heck doesn’t that look like fun), I decided on this dual chamber tumbling composter from Amazon.
First off, the worst thing about this composter is the assembly. There’s around 60 screws that you need to use though my husband (who was the one to put it together) swears there were more than a hundred. I luckily did not have to experience the worst thing about this composter because my husband kindly put it all together in about an hour. But be aware, if you’re not particularly handy (or you don’t have someone to assemble this for you) you might start off your composting journey with some frustration.
But once assembled, this is a thing of beauty. It’s sturdy and as far as I can tell, gets the job done. Each bin is quite large and I can fit about 2-3 weeks worth of food scraps (non-cooked, mostly veggie and fruit peels) plus gardening scraps in one bin. And this should work out since it’s advertised as turning scraps into compost in two weeks (yea right, read below for how long it’s been taking me). But once bin is full, you can start filling the next bin and by the time that one’s full you might be ready to dump out the first bin you filled. I plan to dump it out on one of those Ikea bags since it fits perfectly under the composter to catch all the soil.
This composter is quite large so if you have a small garden space I’m not sure if it’s the best option for you. It’s definitely not the best option if you live in an apartment and want to compost on a balcony since the contents inside do leak from time to time. [Side note: for small living spaces my friend loves the Bokashi compost system since it’s a small footprint and there’s minimal smells]. As for this dual bin composter, I find smells are still minimal (but the key to that I think is adding enough brown material like dried leaves—the optimal ratio is supposedly 2:1 browns to greens/food).
So far it looks like it’ll take me 10+ weeks for me to get some good compost (it’s not done yet but it’s also because I had been experimenting and kept adding even after the 2-4 week mark). But maybe it’s because I put huge chunks of food (like whole apples that have fallen into our yard from the neighbor’s tree) and large branches. I also probably don’t turn it as often as I should, nor are the things as compacted together. I’m still learning on composting best habits. But it beats the year+ it took with my DIY composter! And the soil it produced so far is beautiful and rich, and I can’t wait to add it to my indoor and outdoor garden.
Overall, I’m happy with this composter and can’t wait to enrich my plants with soil made in my own backyard (so tired of buying soil in large plastic bags)!