These clean and compact composting systems are suited to small gardens and apartment living.
They allow you to nurture healthy plants in a more confined living environment. They come in a wide selection of styles, functions and price range.
There are three main types of composting you can do inside or on a small balcony or court yard: the electric countertop composter, worm farms and Bokashi Compost Systems.
Electric Counter top Compost Systems
The most exciting advantage of the electric countertop composter is that it can turn waste into soil in just a few hours. For a small kitchen, balcony or garden this is ideal. You can run the composter as often as you run your dishwasher!
As an added bonus they take meat, bones and diary food which is impossible in the standard cold compost bin. This means that you are really using all your organic waste to make soil. Most models are totally odourless which is important in an indoor composting system.
Our Top Pick
Food Cycler Platinum Indoor Food Recycler and Kitchen Compost Container
We like this model because it only takes 3 hours to process and is totally odourless.
It also has a food bucket that can be put in the dishwasher which makes it ideal for indoor composting.
Worm Farms
Quite apart from being great for the environment and incredibly efficient at disposing of food waste, worm farms are an example of the ecosystem in action for your children to watch.
We love that they are such low maintenance and how quickly you can harvest worm castings. Worms can digest half their body weight in a day. Worm castings fertilise your soil and aerate it as well, improving drainage and water retention.
The ‘worm tea’ is so nutritious for your plants and soil and all this can be achieved in a relatively small space. A well maintained worm farm is ideal for balconies and small gardens as it is not only compact but low odour.
Our Top Pick
Worm Farm Compost Bin – Continuous Flow Through Vermi Composter for Worm Castings, Worm Tea Maker, Indoor/Outdoor, 20 gallons
We love this worm farm for its capability to compost large amounts of food scraps. It’s really quite attractive and though not the most compact, easy to move around.
Its efficient flow through design makes it easy to maintain and there are no heavy trays to lift.
Bokashi Indoor Composting Systems
This bucket system with tightly fitting lids are useful for kitchens either countertop or for under a sink. They use bokashi bran which is a microbe mix to ferment the organic material. You still need to use a mixture of green and brown household organic waste in these systems but the process is very speed and odour free.
As it is an anaerobic process, unlike other composting methods the container must be relatively oxygen free which means really squashing down the material until it is flat. You also need to drain the liquid from the container to support the bacteria that will ferment your organic waste. That is why the smell of the Bokashi bins is often described as ‘pickley’ or yeasty smelling.
Although it breakdown in just a couple of weeks it is still highly acidic and we would suggest aging it somewhere for at least a month before using it in the garden.
Our Top Pick
Maze Indoor Kitchen Composter with 500ml Liquid Bokashi
This composting system takes all kitchen waste including meat, fish and dairy. It’s really compact which help in transporting it to the garden.
Unlike many indoor composting systems it does not attract fruit fly due to it being highly air tight. This feature makes it really efficient when breaking down the organic matter.