Customer Reviews

Exaco 110 Gallon Composter

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been composting for close to a decade, and decided to trade in my old pair of bins (Earth Machine) for a couple that I thought would be a little better looking in my garden. Assembly was fairly quick and easy (about 10 minutes each, and I did it by myself.) I transferred existing compost-in-the-making from my old bins to the new bins, and I thought I was good to go.

The first, relatively minor, inconvenience is that the lids do not stay up on their own, as advertised. So, when loading more than a handful, you'd need to find a way to prop the lid open. I called customer service at Exaco (the manufacturer) and the agent confirmed that the lid does not stay up on its own (despite the fact that it is advertised as such.)

The much more important issue is that the bin cannot withstand turning of the compost. I'd barely put my tool in the bin to turn the compost (which I try to do a few times a week in order to have finished compost after a couple of months) when the side panels of the bin split apart. The top of the bin stayed together, since there are clips holding the top in place, but the bottoms splayed open. At first I thought maybe I'd gotten a defective bin, or assembled it incorrectly, but when I went to turn the contents of the second bin, the same thing happened.

When I called customer service, I was told that the bin was "not designed to withstand rough turning..." uhm, rough turning? I was using a garden fork, which I'd used with my previous plastic bins for many years. The customer service agent told me I could drill holes in the panels and zip tie them together. General composting generally involves turning of compost. If a bin can't withstand turning, there should be a clear notation that bins are designed for passive - not active - composting.

Bigger than I thought, so i have a lot of veg peels, leaves, shredded paper to contribute! But it was easy to assemble and I think it is going to work very well.

Works really well for us however I wish the lid had a latch. Ensure that you do not put non organic produce in there or you will contaminate all of your compost with pesticide per their instructions.