I Saved More Than 2,000 Pounds of Food Waste From the Landfill With This Simple Composter
The Algreen Soil Saver Composter user guide estimates that a third of all household waste (including yard waste) can go into an at-home composter. That may not seem like much, but by my conservative calculation, I’ve deposited roughly 1,900 pounds of organic materials into my bin over the past six or so years. My spent coffee grounds alone, at about 5 to 6 ounces a day, account for nearly 40% of that.
Despite the fact that I don’t do anything to help my food scraps decompose, my family has had no unpleasant experiences with rodents or funky smells (although, when I pop the bin’s fitted lid to throw in my latest batch of kitchen gunk, I can see flies going to work inside it).
Even better, I’ve never turned my compost with a spade or pitchfork, nor have I ever hosed it down, added worms to it, or done any other onerous chores a serious composter might undertake. All I’ve done is dump kitchen waste into the bin and walk away, just like I do when I bring trash from my indoor garbage cans to my outdoor garbage can.
The Redmon bin’s black, plastic sides absorb and hold in heat and they’re vented for airflow, so the bin itself does all the work necessary to break down organic matter. The process is so efficient that my bin has never been more than two-thirds full. (My husband did dig a hole about a foot deep that we placed the bin on top of when we set it up to give our pile a head start.)
Little hatch doors at the bottom allow access to your compost. Despite my stubborn anti-compost stance, my Redmon compost bin has produced what looks a lot like usable compost, albeit with plenty of still-intact eggshells and plant bits mixed in.
In fact, Brewer told me that my hastily made concoction still has value. “I’d put the recognizable items back in for another cycle of composting,” she said. “The rest could be applied as a soil amendment, just a thin layer.”
Despite my worst intentions, it seems I’ve made compost after all.
This article was edited by Alex Aciman and Catherine Kast.
