How Much Does A Composter Cost?

Collage of composter with compost bin full of decomposed food wasteGood soil is so essential to a garden. And composting is one of the best ways to augment your soil naturally. Perhaps you've thought about getting a composter, but you want to know how much does a composter cost?
You'll need to decide if you're shopping for a bin or a tumbler first. But with both types of composters, the price ranges are similar.
  • Composting Bin: $50- $250
  • Compost Tumblers: $75- $300
We'll look at several different options and also talk about which composter is best for beginners. So keep reading to learn more.

How Much Does A Composter Cost?

As we mentioned, you will first need to decide how you want to compost. (This blog post here on GardenTabs.com may help with answers: How Long Does it Take to Compost in a Tumbler?) You have choices, whether you pile up your waste into a heap, use a home-made wireframe to load the debris into, or go for the enclosed and faster environment of a bin or tumbler.

Rest assured, however, you can get into a compost system for less than a hundred dollars, or spend up to three or four hundred.

How Much Does A Composting Bin Cost?

A composting bin is a four-sided container made for producing compost. It is typically made of plastic, and if it's made for outdoors, it has no bottom. Often there are doors near the bottom of the bin to help you removed the compost that is cooked and ready for your garden. There are some countertop bins made for small amounts of compost in the kitchen. On the higher end are insulated systems with their own built-in aeration systems.

Kitchen Counter Compost Bin

This compact design with a 5-gallon container helps you lower your carbon footprint and turn your food scraps into soil. The handy spigot design allows you to serve your indoor plants some nutritious compost tea as the included compost starter does its job. Click here to see this on Amazon.

Lower Cost Larger Compost Bin

This compost bin made of recycled plastic holds 110 gallons and has aerating slats to help break things down. A handy door near the bottom allows you to remove your processed compost easily. Click here to see this on Amazon.

Higher End Composter With Self-Aeration System

This more expensive compost bin does a lot of the work for you. It's insulated to keep the compost warm and active during winter months. At the bottom, it has a reservoir to hold liquid organic fertilizer made as your compost breaks down.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

How Much Does A Compost Tumbler Cost?

Compost tumblers are another style of the composter. Because they are an enclosed environment and because of the ability to turn them and move the scraps around, they work more quickly than bins. Composter tumblers are not for the kitchen counter, but they do make small ones that would be appropriate for an apartment or condominium balcony garden. More expensive compost tumblers can run upwards of a couple of hundred dollars.

Small Apartment Compost Tumbler

This 37.5-gallon capacity tumbler is perfect for a rooftop or balcony garden. Fill it up, give it a couple of spins, and in as little as four to six weeks, you'll have compost for your plants.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

This rolling compost tumbler is solid, and no assembly is required. It's made of food-safe, BPA free plastic and can produce solid and liquid compost. It comes in two sizes and two price points, the lower cost one is a 17-gallon capacity, and the higher cost one is 35-gallon capacity.

Click here to find this on Amazon.

Dual Barrel Compost Tumbler

If you want to always have fresh, rich compost available for the garden, you might consider a double barrel compost tumbler. The advantage of this style is that while one barrel is being filled with scraps and in the process of biodegrading, the other will be ready to use. Though this style is slightly more expensive than the others, the value comes from more compost available sooner.

Click here to find this on Amazon.

What is the Best Composter for Beginners?

Sometimes the easiest composter is the one that needs the least work. They may not be the fastest, but if you want to get started, then you might start on a simpler scale. We've picked a few out that could work for beginners.

Moveable Open Topped Compost Bin

This open-topped, aerated compost bin is super simple and super affordable. It expands in capacity and is easy to move so that you can find the best spot on your property. Fill it with lawn scraps, trimmings, grass clippings, and kitchen waste, then let it break down and do its thing.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

Rugged Classic Compost Bin

This rugged plastic classic bin features lots of aeration on the sides and 8.6 cubic feet of compost storage. Easy lift-off lid for adding more material and access doors at the bottom for retrieving finished compost. It's a simple thing of place, add materials, wait for it to brew, use your compost. It doesn't get much easier. And it's reasonably priced, as well.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

Easy Tumbling Composter

This easy tumbling composter comes with two accessible chambers, so if one compost side is busy cooking, you can still add scraps to the other. All you have to do is close the door and turn it every 2-3 days, and in as little as 5-6 weeks, you should have compost you can use on your plants. The total capacity of both sides is 37 gallons.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

With the price range of as low as fifty dollars to upwards of three hundred, composting is accessible to everyone. You can go complicated with a large-capacity dual tumbler, or you can go super simple with the open-topped Geobin. There's no reason not to go ahead and get your compost started.

For more great tips for your garden, please check out these other posts here on Garden Tab.

Can You Have a Vertical Garden Without Soil?

Can You Over Fertilize a Lawn?

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