Features:

  • Produce rich organic dark compost humus in 6 to 8 weeks from food scraps, kitchen and garden waste
  • Save up to 30% of household waste while saving money on applicable curbside pickup costs; Made from BPA free 100% recycled environmentally-friendly material
  • Locking Self-Watering Lid keeps animals out while openings allow air to move through composter to speed up the composting process
  • Large opening makes for easy access and Two sliding doors make removal of compost simple and convenient
  • Robust thickness and construction helps produce and insulate heat which helps the micro-organisms breakdown waste to produce nutrient rich soil.Capacity (cu. ft.) - Total:12.65.Capacity (gallons):94
Excellent Compost Bin

Installation was fairly straight forward. The top can be a bit tricky to get on if the unit isn't level and sometimes it isn't easy to tell if the top is locked properly, especially at night. The bin sits on the ground. I know some are worried about rodents borrowing inside, but I was more worried that as I tried to shovel the material out of the bottom, I'd constantly hit and tangle with the screen which would probably dislodge anyway. It is a very large volume bin at least for our family. We capture food scraps in a small bin in our kitchen and take the material out to the bin frequently. Because it is now winter, I'm not able to put leaves/grass clipping. However, the one load of mulched leaves that I put in around Halloween filled the bin and is all but a memory now having reduced down to by 80%. I'll get some type of tool, like a garden weezel soon, to turn the material to help it cook. I primed the bin as instructed after a few google searches and away she went! It is winter now, but every time I add more organic material I am amazed at how much the pile continues to shrink down. I know I'll have very rich soil to add to my greenhouse come early spring.

Good fit, generic shape, good size

I was looking for the biggest bin I could find with good reviews, and this for the bill. It’s just shy of the ideal compost pile size, and it’s black plastic (keeps in the heat) while being pretty heavily constructed. I think there were three self-tapping plastic screws in the kit, and a lid that locks on both sides. It has access doors at the bottom to get at the compost and plenty of air holes. You might want to opt to put some chicken wire on the level ground before you plop this down, to keep out burrowing critters. Once it’s full of compost, it’s not going anywhere! Not too fancy, no moving parts, no ridiculous nice wood construction. This is a utilitarian box for holding organic waste while it rots, and it does that perfectly.

About as good as it gets

Almost the perfect composter. I had this old garbage can looking one for years and it worked okay but I got suckered into one of the ones that rotate. Things just end up in a gooey ball in those. So I tried this one. It was east to put together, it's very strong and has lots of room. The only modification I made was I put a square piece of that foil wrapped bubble wrap they sell in Home Depot in the insulation area. In the winter where I live it is cold and rains a lot so that will hold the heat in and keep the compost dryer as this as with most composters have holes in the top to let air in but they also let rain in too. The bubble wrap keeps it dryer and reflects the heat back to the compost and this will even work in the winter. I have not found a better composter so this one gets my 5 star rating.

Long term composter

I've used this composter on a daily basis for 3 years. It even survived a move to new garden ten miles away over a year ago. I've never had a problem opening and shutting the top and bottom doors. Worms and other important critters get in here and do the work. I use a pitchfork about once a month to stir it up. As long as you place this on flat level ground, it works like a charm.

works great. I have two.

I have owned a Soil Saver Classic Composter for well over a year now. It is easy to assemble and has all the part necessary to do so. It is very durable with thick hard material; the screws are durable hard recycled plastic like the rest of the bin. There are locks on the top that are easy for a human or robot to turn while extremely difficult for everything else. there are two sliding doors (like an external, removable, tiny garage door) built into two of the walls you can place where you wish when assembling it. Just to cover all the considerations, the bottom is open and if you use it on a non-dirt surface the composting process could be slowed and as well as stain the non-dirt surface. If you place it on an uneven surface (doesn't have to be level though) the lid will be a little more difficult to remove since there are tiny slits in the side for the spinning chocolate-bar-like thing to go through to lock it. The more uneven the surface the more work required to align the thingies and gaps could form at the top. Just place it on a level surface and this concern vanishes. It's not that hard really. Anywho although the doors easily fit a good sized pitchfork or shovel, emptying the compost bin this way could could take quite a while. To calculate how long this takes take 12.6 cubic feet multiplied by (how long it takes to shovel once (in seconds) divided by however much you can fit (in feet^3) on a shovel) + some time to angle the shovel sometimes to get the corners or deal with your meddlesome neighbor wanting to borrow yet something else. I just remove the lid, then while-wiggling-the-bin-back-and-forth-slightly lift the bin right off the compost pile. If done correctly you will easily and within seconds have a bin in your arms, a little compost on your boots, and a glorious pile of black dirt in front of you. I then set the bin back down somewhere else nearby and refill as necessary. I recommend you not turn the compost and instead just let it sit there. Add as available to the top and do the wiggle remove procedure to move the compost pile in some increment of 2 weeks. I move mine every month or two. check out "Everything You Know About Composting is Wrong: Mike McGrath at TEDxPhoenixville" on the youtubes to gain a lot of insight toward composting.

Excellent composter for food scraps

The 1st composter that Amazon sent was missing a few lid parts. The manufacturer company was kind enough to ship me the missing parts for free. It's easy to assemble, and after only a few weeks I can see compost really beginning to form. Note that as a 12cu ft bin it will never have enough mass to become a "hot" (active) pile, but it's brilliant for mixing food scraps with garden clippings. I put chicken wire underneath and have had zero problems with pests. Also the compost-to-be must be balanced right because it smells nice. Love the easy lock lid. I saved a gallon of food waste for the bin in the 1st two days--incredible!

Well constructed bin, latching lid is a nice feature

This composter with latching lid is really great for kitchen scraps, especially if you live in an area where critters could get into your compost. I imagine it's also a good solution for people in more urban environments, because it will make your compost tidy and not unsightly. I would need about 5 of these to handle to fall leaves, so I opted for a cheaper alternative for leaf litter and use this for kitchen scraps. I've not had a critter problem. I think if you're an urban gardener, this is your best bet for a composter. It's also super easy to set up, and you have the option of putting the two bottom sliding doors adjacent to each other or on opposite sides. I recommend this bin for its ease to set up, acceptable aesthetic, and solid construction. Now for the compost PSA part of my review. The only issue I've had, and this is not so much a this-specific-compost-bin problem as it is a general-compost-and-being-outside problem, is wasps. One time there were about 50 yellow jackets eating tomatoes I threw in this bin. I'm very, very allergic, so I immediately high-tailed it back to the house (seriously, I could probably have outrun Usain Bolt in that instant). They were gone by the next day. In a year's worth of use, this was the only time I'd ever seen a wasp in any of my compost piles/bins. Googling has revealed that occasionally happens with compost, regardless of bin type. The problem was that I unlatched both sides of the lid, lifted it off, and set it on the ground before noticing the death trap I had just opened. I'm going to keep using this compost bin, but I may leave the lid off during the summer months. That way, if there are wasps eating my scraps, I can see them before sticking my hands over them. Moral of the story: be careful. A different bin won't remove the possibility of stinging insects. It's outside, and you're probably putting food/garden scraps in it. Wasps have to eat, too. If you need a lid, then get a bin with a lid. This one is a great choice and I recommend it. If you have kids, an adult should remove the lid first, especially because this bin is approximately eye level for kids. You don't know what's in there (though laying down 1/4" hardware cloth at the base of the bin would keep things from tunneling up into the bin without removing the draining effect of an open bottom). If you don't have a critter problem or neighbors who can see your yard, consider leaving the lid off on days when you'll be around it extensively. That way you can quickly see, from a distance, if a whole nest of yellow jackets suddenly decides to feast on your scraps.

Two months: so far, great product

This was vastly superior to the other one I bought on Amazon a couple of years ago. Most importantly, the plastic is much thicker and it doesn't flex like the other ones I have seen or owned. In every aspect, it seems great -- I have only owned for a month, but it appears to be a keeper. Note: We are experienced composters and this seems the best of the ones we have bought in the past 15 years. Updated a month later -- this is a keeper for sure.

Best composter ever - beats pallets, tumbler, piles, you name it!

This is soooo much better than the giant Mantis tumbler we got from a friend years ago. It's super easy to open the top but the design has little flaps that latch the top down so they stay put even in high winds (75 mph and the tops were still on). And boy do they compost! When we first got one I thought "this is stupid - it's no different than when I made a square out of pallets - this is never going to work" - I was WRONG. I don't know if it's because it's black and gets warm, or if it's all the went holes but not too many, or what - but this thing is a compost making machine! From being packed to the top with garden clippings, shredded paper and veggie kitchen scraps - this thing made me black compost in like 4 weeks! Just keep feeding it from the top (no tuning or screwing around required) and then dig the compost out of the bottom. Only one problem... after seeing how good one worked - I got a second.

BUY THIS ONE!

My inlaws are avid gardeners and after talking to them, this was the style to buy. My mother in law was actually willing to GIVE me her rotating style composter and go without because she hated it so much and can't seem to pawn it off on anyone! I wanted to wait a little bit to see how the unit held up before making a review. We live in the woods in NH with a LOT of wildlife to give you some context, and I wanted to wait to see what happened during what I call "bear season" as last year we lost 2 bird feeders we didn't take down soon enough and a bag of trash (in a closed bin) that wasn't outside for more than an hour right next to our front door. So far, it hasn't been disturbed, even though it is a good 50 yards from the house. Every morning I expect to see the bin toppled down into the woods and half composted goods strewn about, but so far NOTHING! The composter is not quite 1/5th full right now with mainly food scraps but I'm sure it will get a little fuller as the leaves start to fall and we mow the lawn one more time before winter. We did put down a layer of leaves and grass clipping like the manual said to before starting, but we haven't had any compost yet because of this and the colder weather. The black color makes sense as it absorbs heat, helping to break down the compost. I like how the top is the whole size of the container so its easy to dump whatever in and see if things need to get moved around. There is no odor coming from the unit even when opened, even though I think my nitrogen/carbon ratio is off. I can see that the sliding doors to get your compost out might be difficult to get back down, like some have stated, but I'll report back if it becomes an issue. I will say I bought this unit from Amazon Warehouse deals and it was missing the bolts to hold the unit together, but this isn't the manufacturers fault. I wish I had known it was a returned item as opposed to a damaged item ahead of time, because I might have rethought my purchase. That being said, Amazon customer service gave me a 10% refund to get the bolts locally, and if I couldn't find them, I was given the option to return the item for the other 90% back. It cost me a little more than the refund price for the bolts, but now I have stainless steel ones as opposed to plastic. I still saved a bundle on the unit overall.

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