Exaco Trading MR ECO Mini Compost Bin

First of all the name of this product is a bit misleading. This is not really a compost bin: however; it does make an excellent storage bin for waste before taking it outside to the composter. We mounted our Mr. Eco right under the kitchen sink where we can scrape food and waste into the container. Once a week I just pull the biodegradable bag and contents out and take the contents outside where they go into our compost tumbler.  Tumbling Composter  The construction is solid and the unit is designed to keep odors to a minimum. The assembly of the turnstile assembly can be a little tricky but after taking it apart a few times it becomes easier to figure out. The turnstile turns so that the container is never actually open. It is either open for receiving food or it is closed on top and open to the container below so the food falls into the container. This is a nice feature that does a great job of keeping smell down and making the job a lot cleaner. I would suggest taking apart the unit and thoroughly cleaning the parts once a week our whenever it is emptied. We use biodegradable bags to make it easier to handle. If you decide to use liners you will want to use at least the 3 gallon size. Smaller bags will fill up fast and if Mr. Eco gets too full it will jam up the turnstile. Once we figured out the correct size bag it has been a breeze to use. We use these bags: BioBag Food Waste Compostable Bags (3 Gallon), 25-Count Boxes (Pack of 4) and they work well. I gave Mr. Eco 4 stars since it really is a storage bin before composting and not a mini-compost bin. I posted pictures of our installation on the product page.Pros: Convenient for biodegradable kitchen waste Excellent Odor Control Mountable under sinkCons: Not a true compost bin Turnstile assembly can be tricky

Trying to Save Money when ordering this ITEM, has BACKFIRED!!! I could have ordered from Home Depot $38.51 or Lowes $43.98 and taken it back to their store for a full refund. It arrived on May 27th. started using it right away, didn't take me long to realize I made a mistake. Believing it was a100% Airtight. Backfired!!! Mr. ECO became a great place for fruit flies to breed, two days ago they were flying out when ever I opened to add more kitchen waste. It was only half full. I used the bio bags, wrapped the kitchen waste in a paper towel before adding to Mr. ECO. Made sure I closed it correctly, but the little fruit flies were still able to get inside. I really like the way it looks and that it's made of recycled plastic, was easy to hang, but that's where the Likes Stop! Needless to say it's not hanging in my Kitchen anymore, I'm wondering how much it would cost to ship it back to Amazon.

Pros:1) not bad looking2) bigger than most counter-style composting containers3) kids are able to turn the handle4) easy to clean5) our very curious and capable 21 month old is unable to make a mess of the contents or easily access the food waste (at least so far and we have had it for 2 weeks)Cons:1) still get fruit flys and they are able to come out (minimally, like one or two) when you turn the dial to put more products in, which means need to empty more often than I'd like (usually have to empty about 4 days for a family of 5, which is decent compared to an open container)2) had trouble with turning the handle with the trash bags inside of the unit. maybe we are just doing something wrong, but no directions came with our unitNotes:Right now, it is summer time (so we are eating a lot of really sweet fruit) and we have ours sitting on our kitchen floor still in try-out mode, so I can not comment on the mounting option. Some items such as coffee grinds, melon rinds, etc are better off put in by taking the lid off... the grinds are messy looking for they stick to the transparent grayish black cylinder and make the compost bin look dirty; the rinds are too big (unless you were to cut them up) to fit in the cylinder. This is our first compost container for our kitchen so we have nothing else to compare too besides using a bowl on our kitchen counter; which I have to say, produced a lot more fruit flys than using this container.

I like it. However. It really does nothing for keeping the fruit flies down... Its pretty easy... and VERY necessary to clean in between dumps. I like to leave it out in the sun to air the stink out for a day too. Despite it being sealed. Which normally I do not seal my compost buckets just to let them air... But this summer I increased my fruit consumption... Needless to say the fruit flies have been battling me. This has helped in the sense that I go outside to open it if its full because they have made a wonderful dispensing system... for the flies... However not something you will ever be able to completely control in a composting environment... or at least pre compost, all the time.

Too small for practicality, it fills up too quickly. Air tight design does contain odors very well, but tumbler will release some during slow rotations. Being without aeration method, it does not compost effectively. this is little more than a glorified compost collection pail.

My biggest issue for the last years while keeping my kitchen compost (I have a worm farm so I need the compost) was the smell.. The bucket with a lid that I was using made my "putting the compost inside" a nightmare.. closing my eyes, holding my breath and opening the lid..throw the compost and close the lid.. as fast as I could. Now with this mini compost bin no more nightmare.. i just wrap small piles of my compost in newspaper (which is great because worms need paper to eat) and put it in the top chamber.. turn the lever and it's gone.. 0 smell!!!! It took me a little bit to get use to do an effective wrap, because if you don't do it correctly it may get stuck on the system but as soon as I figured that out, it's great. When it start to get hard to turn the chamber it means it's ready to dispose in my compost pile.. I would say i wish was a little bigger but in the other hand I love that fits perfect inside one of my kitchen cabinets door, so it's out of the way.