Thank you to NatureMill
for providing me with a product to review, at a reduced price.
These are my own honest opinions.

Those of you who’ve been reading my posts regularly know that I’m all about making green choices. However, some green habits are easier to put in place than others. We’ve been recycling and reusing for as long as I can remember but I’ve never been able to implement composting. I tried twice with minimal success because it was too much work, plus in Canada, composting in the winter can be quite a hassle. I guess I love the idea of being green but I don’t want it to be extra work.

I think everyone understands the benefits of composting. Sure, things decompose in the landfill too but because it’s not aerated and creates methane which is a leading cause of global warming. The process of composting on the other hand, generate very little methane. Of course, the final product is great for your garden, flower beds, etc. It’s full of nutrients and will help maintain moisture as well as regulate PH and prevent plant disease.

Knowing that there is approximately 30% of household waste is organic and can be composted, I really really wanted to find a way to make it work and I did! It’s NatureMill’s Ultra Compost Bin.

What’s so wonderful about the Ultra? It’s an automatic compost bin. Yes, automatic, meaning it does all the work for you. You plug it, add your waste items whenever you want, wait, and empty the tray with your fresh compost every other week or so. Wonderful isn’t it?

The Ultra mixes, heats, and aerates your wastes so they turn quickly into compost. Because of the heat, you’ve able to compost a lot of things that wouldn’t go in a ‘typical’ compost bin such as dairy, meat, and fish. The only ‘rule’ is to make sure the pieces aren’t big so they don’t get caught in the mechanism and can be transferred to the lower chamber where the tray that collects compost is. You only have to add a little bit of baking soda and some wood pellets in there so help the process and the rest is like magic.

Another neat feature of the Ultra is that it can be used anywhere, literally. You can keep it in your kitchen, in your laundry room, in your garage or outdoors, even in freezing temperatures. You can get it with a black or a stainless steel exterior. I took the stainless steel one because all our appliances are stainless steel. It looks really good and people are curious to know what it is (I’ve set it up in the kitchen at the moment). It uses very little energy, about $0.50 per month to produce heat and to aerate your wastes every few hours which is another bonus. The Ultra is made from recycled and recyclable materials.

I was worried about the odors but thanks to the carbon filter and the sealed lid and door, there’s absolutely no odor. Well, of course when you open it to add more stuff, there will be a smell but it’s not like the disgusting smell of food decomposing, it’s more of a warm earthy smell. If you think that would bother you, you can keep a compost pail in your kitchen (NatureMill sells them) and you only empty it in your compost bin that you keep in another room when it’s full.

This compost bin has a 4 gallon weekly capacity which is fine for us and should be sufficient for a family of 4-5 people. Obviously, it has significantly reduced of much we throw out. Also, because there isn’t anything rotting in my garbage bag, I don’t need to take out the trash nearly as often (I hate this chore!) I’d say I do it maybe once every 2-3 weeks now.

To get compost without any big undecomposed chunks, you have to make sure the pieces you put in the compost bin are not too big. For example, I found long pieces of leek leaves or large pieces of orange peel can end up in the bottom chamber in big chunks. As long as you remember to cut your waste in smaller pieces, you should be fine. I just end up putting undecomposed chunks back into the upper chamber when necessary.

We’ve been using it for about 3 weeks now and it’s really been a breeze. At first, I had set it up at medium heat and the food would not compost completely. I read the ‘cheat sheet’ that came with the Ultra and soon identified that I needed to use the maximum heat. Once that was done, it worked really well. The Ultra heats up your waste all day long and mixes it for a couple minutes every few hours. The heating is totally soundless but you can hear it when it mixes. It’s a little louder than I thought it would be but it’s really not that bad. I’ve heard dishwashers and refrigerators that made more noise and with the Ultra, it’s only a couple minutes at a time.

Overall, I am really pleased with our new Ultra. I love to teach my daughter the difference between garbage, recycling, and composting. She’s really cute because she understands that the words are different and knows to bring food to the compost bin. I can’t wait to see how big and healthy my plants grow this summer thanks to our very own compost!

Head over to NatureMill to see for yourself the different automatic compost bins they offer. Don’t forget to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for all the latest news and promotions.

Rachel