Composting steps into the 21st Century

Once upon a time, composting seemed like a nightmarish task. Only the most committed gardeners were willing to devote yard space to a heap of decomposing matter, braving unknown insect larvae and knockout odors.

But now, thanks to smaller, no-fuss kitchen composting machines, even novice planters can produce the nutrient-rich organic material. These high-tech units create odor-free, sleekly contained compost in half the time - no pitchforks or plugged noses necessary.

"We are all busy, we have jobs, kids and animals," says Carrie Donovan, a public relations manager at NatureMill, a San Francisco-based kitchen composter manufacturer. "This is a no-fuss composting system. Everything is just contained and all you do is every two weeks pull it out and you'll have fresh compost for your backyard."

Since NatureMill began producing the small, under-the-counter units just over three years ago, Donovan says they have seen sales quadruple. "It pretty much takes care of itself," she says. "You plug it in; everything is automatic. You don't have to go back there and get yourself all smelly."

Measuring just 20-by-20-by-12 inches, the NatureMill Plus XE fits under most kitchen cabinets, and can produce up to 120 pounds of organic waste per month. The machine takes food scraps and heats them to between 140 F and 160 F, mixes them every four hours and keeps a constant air flow going in and out of the machine. Donovan says sometimes compost will be ready in as few as 12 hours.

The Indoor Kitchen Composter, sold at Waltham, Mass.-based greenandmore.com, is even smaller, measuring 16-by-10-by-10 inches. It uses a starter blend of wheat bran, molasses and micro-organisms to break down food waste, and like the NatureMill model, typically offers compost in two weeks. "People who normally compost outdoors during the warmer months like to have options for the cooler parts of the year," says Matthew Keiter, a merchandising manager for the company.

Barbara Pleasant, co-author of "The Complete Compost Gardening Guide" (Storey Publishing, 2008), has been composting for 15 years. She began composting food waste to save herself from messes.

"I realized how much cleaner the garbage could be without all that drippy stuff," she says. "And of course, a good gardener plants nothing without a little compost."

Mature compost can suppress plant diseases and pests, reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and promote higher yields of agricultural crops, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "There's even some evidence that tomatoes taste better," Pleasant says.

"Plants need small amounts of nutrients that are present in compost, so it's like insurance against nutrient deficiencies."

The machines, Donovan says, will compost pretty much anything. The most common items are fruit, vegetable and grain scraps - even some paper products and soft shellfish like shrimp.

"You just need to keep an even amount of green and brown items," Donovan says.

"Even err a little on the side of having a little too much brown material, because it's going to soak up the liquid and keep the pH balance 100-percent correct."

Items to avoid composting include bones, hard pits (like avocados) or wine corks.

For those looking to graduate to a backyard composting operation, Pleasant says just about anything goes.

"It reaches this point, I call it 'critical mass,' where you could probably throw a shoe in and it would disappear," she says.