Compost Guru Compost Bin Reviews and Comparisons
Composting is usually thought of as an outdoor activity. However, there is a kind of composting developed for people who wanted to do things differently – indoor compost bins were developed for people for whom it was difficult or near impossible to compost outside. These people generally include those who reside in apartments, the elderly, and people who have limitations on their movement. Other factors related to climate also affect these people’s ability to do their composting outdoors.
Smaller lots, especially in urban environments, usually do not have enough space to host a compost pile. People can use indoor composting solutions instead, and use their compost pile for plants in pots or even a mini-garden for herbs.
People who might not be aware of indoor composting would be wise to consider it the next time they dispose of their nutrient-rich vegetable and food scraps into the trash. These scraps could be utilized for a better purpose – which will definitely and ultimately benefit the environment.
Kitchen Compost Bins
Gathering food scraps to use for compost is an excellent idea for your garden. However, if you don’t have your own compost bin, the food scraps placed in a regular garbage bin will lure in all sorts of flies and fill the air in the kitchen with a foul smell.
Kitchen compost bins are small-size containers that you can both bring with you and use to keep food scraps for the short-term – food scraps like those from vegetables, egg shells, coffee grounds, and more, and even other things made out of compostable material, like tissue paper and paper towels. With a kitchen compost bin, you can store your food scraps and other waste without having to worry about flies, other pests, and foul smells emanating from the bin into the rest of your home. You can leave the food scraps to stack up as the week progresses, until the waste turns into usable compost which you can use as fertilizer for the potted plants around your home. Kitchen compost bins are usually placed on top of a counter or below the kitchen sink.
Compost bins designed for indoor kitchen use are made with varying sizes, all kinds of styles, and at different prices – to make it easier for you to choose one that will match the decor in your home, while staying effective at the same time.
There are not only many reasons, but also many benefits to be had when you start using a kitchen compost bin. They help greatly with the environment, by slowly getting you used to living green, lowering your carbon footprint, and turning your household waste into compost and free fertilizer that you can use for your potted plants and garden, instead of sending it to the landfill.
Bokashi Compost Bins
Bokashi compost bins are another option available for those looking to do their composting indoors. Bokashi is a kind of composting that’s anaerobic – lacking oxygen – where food scraps instead go through fermentation. The scraps are fermented by being formed into layers and enhanced by a mixture called EM Bokashi, which infuses the scraps with microorganisms that stimulate the fermentation process.
In a Bokashi compost bin, the food waste gets layered with a Bokashi mixture. An air-tight Bokashi compost bin, hosting microorganisms from the Bokashi mixture, work together in tandem to ferment the waste in a much shorter period of time. While the waste does not go through decomposition while inside the bin, it does reduce in volume as the water contained in the waste drains out and is funneled out through the grate at the bottom of the bin.
The whole process of fermentation lasts around two (2) weeks, which makes it a highly effective way to do composting. One of the many advantages of composting using the Bokashi method is that dairy products and meat can be used, in addition to the other food scraps – which makes the Bokashi system utilize all of the waste from the kitchen.
Bokashi composting is performed indoors, the environment for which it does composting best. The soil conditioner that results from the Bokashi process can also be added on top of a worm factory, to build a complete composting system contained entirely indoors. Bokashi is especially suited for the winter season.
There are even more benefits that can be gained by using Bokashi compost bins. The Bokashi composting method makes disposing of the scraps and waste into the compost bin take less effort.
A Bokashi compost bin is beneficial in a number of ways:
- it prevents bugs from reaching the compost
- the time it takes for the waste to break down is cut in half compared to traditional composting methods
- is completely odor-free thanks to the fermentation process
- no need to segregate waste as you only have to just throw it all in
- the Bokashi-grown bacteria will start to break the waste down, and there is no need to do any turning because the bokashi bacteria does all of the composting work instead of airflow
The required elements to embark on the Bokashi journey are easily accessible online and in stores. The containers used for the Bokashi system also do not produce any smells, which make it even more suited for the kitchen. The Bokashi juice extracted from a spigot, which when diluted in water, also makes for a high-quality liquid fertilizer.
Now you know all about indoor compost bins, you have to read The best indoor compost bin