NatureMill Pro:White - Indoor Compost System
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Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of NatureMill Pro:White - Indoor Compost System
Customer Review: green wash
Summary: 1 Stars
Executive summary: If you are looking for a gadget that composts, then the naturemill might work long enough for you to get bored with it. If you're trying to do something for the environment, then look elsewhere. Acting green is different from being green. Acting green is an excuse for a certain brand of feel-good conspicuous consumption. Being green means doing the math and, often, walking away from stuff that doesn't make sense.
If you need to buy something, try Kitchen Composter Hinged Top Filtered. It's a vastly greener choice.
As a gadget lover even I can't justify buying naturemill's interesting gadgety automated contraption because feeling good about composting isn't a reason, it's an excuse. Actually being green is a valid reason though.
Doing the math ... You buy this manufactured product containing plastic, motors, heaters, fans and filters. You ship it in, plug it in and it composts your kitchen waste. You then take the compost somewhere to use it. Quite a CO2 footprint for that little bit of compost.
Advocates of the product claim it only costs 50 cents a month to run, the same as a night light. In Feb. '08, electricty cost, on average, 7 cents per kilowatt-hour. So that 50 cents is about 7 kilowatt hours and equivalent to running an old style 7 watt night light 24 hours a day every day. Every clueful enviro I know uses 1 watt or less nightlights on sensors or no nightlight at all.
So, energy to run is about 7 watts 24/7. A 15 watt CFL bulb produces the illumination equivalent of a 60 watt incandescent. So, the naturemill device sucks the juice of an average CFL bulb running 12 hours a day every day. This is just consumption and ignores the energy costs of production and shipping.
Compare one alternative. You find a container that is otherwise destined for the landfill, poke some holes in it, and throw in your kitchen waste. If you're in a hurry then turn the container or shake it around every now and then. After all, part of being green is letting nature do what nature does. The CO2 footprint is almost zero because everything in the project is reused.
Compare another alternative, you collect kitchen waste and give it to someone who has a compost pile.
naturemill claims that urban dwellers can benefit because they lack space for a compost bin. Well, where will the compost go then? Compost doesn't really take any less space or weigh less than the stuff that went into it. There is no savings to the environment in hauling it after composting rather than before. Compost piles take space? It seems that a bucket without lots of attendant gadgetry takes less.
Another reason advocates provide is that a simple bucket takes effort and people are so lazy that they quit putting in the effort. The effort is almost nil - people stop composting because they get bored with it, not because it's tough. I guess when people quit getting a kick out of the naturemill contraption, they can sell it. Cool, re-use. that's green.
Customer Review: Patience is a virtue
Summary: 4 Stars
People that purchase this product should be more informed consumers; or at least read the manual.
When composting you must first establish the micro-organisms (cultures) that break down the material. This is clearly stated in the manual. The first batch or so may not be the best smelling, or greatest consistency because of the cultures getting established. If you just haphazardly throw items in this machine (or any other composter) the compost will not be "right" compost is essentially decomposing material broken down by microbes. If it is too dry, too wet, too basic or too acidic it will not be "right".
There is an art to making good compost but if you follow the recipe clearly stated in the manual and quick reference guide this will produce some great compost FAST! It is that simple. Composting is not for everyone and requires patience and some simple planning as to what to add when; lots of greens add some sawdust etc.
The NatureMill takes the guess work out of mixing, temperature and air, it is all controlled by the computer. It has a solid hum (air pump) when running but it is not that loud and after a short time you stop noticing it. It makes some noise when mixing but other than that it is just there.
Occasionally there will be some build up of compost on the left side of the machine (the mixer is round in a rectangle cavity) not a huge deal, just push it down with a plastic spoon when you add more material; people make it out like it is the end of the world (obviously they are not familiar with a shovel/pitch fork and turning a compost pile). It is also important that the machine be fairly level so that the excess liquid is caught in a separate container and not remain in the mixing chamber as the compost will be too wet.
After the first batch of compost smelling rather horrid (moved the machine to the basement) there has not been any odors since and it will remain in the kitchen. The cultures are doing their thing and we add items as we should.
The Pro adds the foot pedal which is nice when you are adding material, other than that I did not see a big difference in the models.
The product is continuously updated and they offer free parts and shipping on the upgrades. It is great that they update the product and offer them free, it would be nice to receive a notice about them instead of checking the company's website regularly.
This product is as described and is great at what it does, it has been a great addition to our home and allows us to compost items we normally would not be able to as in the NorthEast it gets cold and may attract animals.
Recommended for anyone that wants to help do your part for the planet but that has some patience and can grasp the composting concept, it is not for everyone.
Customer Review: Patience pays off; the first week is annoying
Summary: 4 Stars
I was excited to receive this item after I learned about it from a green home improvement article. After all, it's pre-assembled, included are sawdust and baking soda to get you started, and all you need to do for the first batch is add topsoil and an equal portions of "green" (veggies, protein scraps, etc.) and "brown" (coffee, grains, yard debris, etc.) scraps.
Be sure to read through the instructions first. The first batch would take about a week before I could continue to add green and brown scraps; I just stored my scraps in the fridge until the second week, when I could add items at any time. Also, every few hours you will hear whirring, grinding and snapping sounds as the unit heats up and the mixer breaks in, which should subside after a few weeks.
All of this seemed fine, until I woke up in the middle of the first night to what sounded like someone kicking a wall. Wow, it was loud that first night! Thankfully, it quieted down after that, but I made sure I closed the utility room door. (This unit was too wide to fit under my sink, but only because the plumbing pipes were in the way. Check the measurements under your sink/beside your disposal before ordering.)
Because of the initial noise factor, definitely think about storing the unit in a cabinet or behind a closed door, and be sure to chop down all the scraps into smaller pieces to keep the mixer from having to work overtime.
<<Update: since my initial review, the mysterious sounds have subsided dramatically, and EXACTLY every four hours all I really hear now is the mixing sounds, as long as you continue to add scraps to keep the chamber pretty full. Also, I have since moved my composter to the garage next to my trash bins, and I add all my food scraps when I take out the garbage. Even though the noise has subsided to a mild motor sound every four hours, I found it more convenient to dispose of food waste with the unit next to the trash bins.>>
Overall, I really like the product. The final batch of compost took only a few days and is about a gallon, which is perfect for my small garden. I also feel better about eliminating the food waste from my garbage. Good luck!
Customer Review: non-stop composter all year round!
Summary: 5 Stars
We just love this composter. We use it all year round, even in the winter which is like half the year here. Oh my gosh it does meat, fish, and even dog poop! It eats up practically everything without so much as a groan. The only things it won't do are steak bones (fish and chicken bones are ok), and lemons for some reason. It is quite warm inside and you can see steam rising some times if you open the lid one day after adding a lot of wet food items.
Do not under any circumstances add paper! Even shredded paper. It turns to gloop and can cause some nasty jams. And it stinks. I called customer service (they were very nice) and it turns out that the chemicals used to process paper are quite toxic as the break down. The instructions also say to avoid too much broccoli - I can only imagine the organic intensity of that is too much for compost.
The compost that comes out is AMAZING. It looks and smells so good I could just eat it, although that is probably not a good idea. Our plants are loving it! We get a very reliable dose every 2-3 weeks. We have been using it for about a year and we have covered our entire back yard at least once, most of the shrubs twice, and it really shows. We used to be able to walk between our tomato plants but this year they grew in so thick that we can not walk in between the plants any more.
Another side benefit is no more kitchen trash. Saves us at least one, sometimes two trips to the dumpster outside. Theres hardly anything in the trash except for a few plastic bags and wrappings that we are trying to eliminate eventually.
Thank you so much for whoever came up with this idea and hurry up and sell more so there is less trash in the universe!
Customer Review: Amazing little composter
Summary: 5 Stars
I usually don't write review about product but this one is an amazing little composter. I never thought composting could be made easy until I start using this composter. I put all of my kitchen scrap including meats in there - yes it compost meats too. That's one of the nice thing about this composter, it pretty much compost anything, as long as you cut all the hard and fibery stuff like corn cobs and corn husks into small pieces. And use your common sense to balance the green and brown material like you would have to do for any composter.
I put a whole bag of mixed veggies that has gone bad and some molded blue cheeses in the other day. I thought it's going to be a really stinky batch so I put extra wood pallet and baking soda in to balance the PH level. But to my surprise, it wasn't stinky at all. I guess the extra brown material (wood pallets) help. It smells musty like a hot day in a mud field. C'mon, it's a composter. You can't expect air freshener comes out of a composter.
I read a lot of reviews before I bought the NatureMill composter. I did hear that there were some problems with the earlier models. I also read somewhere that said they have fixed most of the problems in the latest model. Most of reviews say that if you follow the instructions and use a little common sense balancing the brown and green stuff, you will be happy with this composter. I did and it's the best composter I have ever bought. I haven't had any problem with mine. It's really easy to use and the one sheet instruction was easy to follow. I'm really glad that I bought it, and I would recommend it to anyone.