Inside Urban Green

New and Future Kitchen Composters

Panasonic Kitchen Composter

New design - Kitchen composter

It is not surprising that others are pursuing the kitchen composting appliance market. With the current surge of interest in personal food production there is more awareness of the value and need for composting. For apartment dwellers with no outdoor space for a more traditional composter, these appliances fill a significant need. 

The Panasonic appliance will be available in Japan in late April. I assume a U.S. product launch will follow in the near future. 

The composting appliance in the lower photo is a designer’s vision not yet in production. 

It is interesting to observe new products emerging that follow the lead of pathfinders such as NatureMill, AeroGarden and EarthBox.  

Panasonic composter - Via Home Tone

Designer composter - Via Yanko Design 

NatureMill Special Web Offer

Just after posting about the NatureMill composter, I found a special "limited time" offer in my inbox today. What they call the NatureMill Classic (original model?) is available online for $199 (+$15 UPS shipping). Read about it here. 

Boing Boing NatureMill Conversation

If you're considering the purchase of a NatureMill indoor composter, there is a post on Boing Boing with many comments worth reading. 

It certainly seems like a good composting solution for those of us who live in apartments with no space for an outdoor composter. 

One thing is loud and clear from reading these comments and other reviews is that you must follow the NatureMill instructions. Further, its apparent that if you’re in doubt about anything it's worth the time to read the manual, website information and/or contact a NatureMill customer service rep. 

NatureMill Video

The NatureMill kitchen composter may become a significant potting media source for sub-irrigated grow boxes in the future. Have a look at their video. Perhaps a bit pricey but it's a cool kitchen appliance. I'm looking forward to testing it. 

Urban Compost Tumbler

 

Here is another urban composter option. It's called an Urban Compost Tumbler. It looks like it would work in a small city yard or even a good size balcony. I have no outdoor space so something like the NatureMill kitchen composter looks like a better option for apartment dwellers like me.

The UCT is made by D&P Industries in Oregon. They do business as Urban Garden Center. The composters are evidently made from recycled pickle barrels and may be subject to availability regarding size. Apparently there are two sizes, 7.3 cu. ft. and 9 cu. ft.    

This composter was featured on Apartment Therapy. 

Kitchen Composter

This is a NatureMill kitchen composter. I'm seriously considering buying one. At about $300, it is a significant decision in this economy. I do, however, want to start composting kitchen waste. Living in an apartment, an outdoor composter is not an option and I'm not particularly keen on vermiculture.

I plan to experiment with the compost in combination with coir and commercial potting mix. I’ll use it for growing and maintaining indoor plants. 

It will be interesting to see how it performs in recycled pop bottle planters. Unlike conventional opaque pots, they make it very easy to observe what’s going on in the soil system. 

The compost will also be used to grow vegetables in sub-irrigated grow boxes next spring. 

Have you had any experience with this composter? Or, do you know someone who has one.