Do you save money by composting?
Composting is a great way to save money AND help the environment – but which composter is the best deal? A common myth about composting is that it is expensive. No wonder, with the more expensive composters costing $400 or more. But you can also make your own composter for as little as $3! Get started with our quick list of what to put in your composter,
Our price comparison of composters covers a variety of styles and prices and we compared prices at different online stores and found you the best prices.
We compared the best price on composters
Free Garden Earth Enviro World Compost Bin (82 gal.)
- Home Depot – $69.99 —Best Price!
- Amazon
– $74.99
- Sears – $89
The Free Garden Earth Compost Bin is a stationary bin which makes it a cheaper option. It also has a door at the bottom of the bin, so you have the option of removing a small amount of finished product. Since the bin is lightweight you can also lift the bin off the finished contents to spread in a garden. The door is a feature that reviewers really love. Since it is a standing bin it can take longer to produce compost, on average about 4 months.
Yimby Tumbler Composter (37 gal.)
- Wayfair.com & Amazon
– $85.53
- Kitchen by Kara – $64.33 Best Price!
- Sears – $139.71
The Yimby Tumbler Composter makes compost in as little as two weeks. It is much smaller than the Free Garden standing bin, but the tumbling action creates compost much quicker.
Vermi Hut 3- Tray Worm Composter (15 gal.)
- Walmart – $65.38
- Sears – $105.80
- VermiFactory.com – $55 Best Price!
The Vermi Hut 3 tray worm composter creates compost using, well, worms! They recommend starting with 1,000 worms. It works like this. Fill each tray with scraps: vegetables, fruits, egg shells, coffee grounds, and even paper (yep, junk mail is worm candy). Your worms will dig in, silently and odorlessly, leaving behind the very best compost available. They will produce about 5 lbs. of compost per week! That’s fast! If worms or bugs scare you, then this may not be the composter for you.
The Geobin Composting System (216 gal.)
- Geobin123.com – $31.99
- Amazon
– $29.99 -Best Price!
- Sears – $37.93
This is the least expensive option and they are a great size for the price! Reviewers on Amazon claim that this product holds up well and is easy to use. Even better, the Geobin website offers discounts when buying in bulk: 2 for $24.99 or 10 for $22 each. If you had family members or neighbors interested in composting you could score a great deal!
Soil Saver Classic Compost Bin (86 gal.)
- Sears- $137.
- Big City Supply – $84.68
- Amazon
– $83.99 – Best Price!
The soil saver classic compost bin produces compost in about 6-8 weeks. It has a locking self-watering lid to keep animals out, while openings allow air to reach the compost and speed up the composting process. There is also a large opening with two sliding doors that makes it easy to remove the compost.
Good Ideas Compost Wizard Dueling Tumbler (50 gal.)
- Amazon
– $178.89
- GlobalIndustrial.com – $133.95 – Best Price!
- Walmart – $170.49
What’s great about the compost tumblers, is that you can have two compact batches running simultaneously. It’s a little pricier,but it’s like getting two composters in one!
Making this list showed me that doing your research can result in big savings! Some of the cheapest prices were on sites I’d never heard of. I have a garden and while I’ve never composted before I think I’ll be starting this year. How about you? If you’re thinking about buying or beginning a compost pile be sure to check out our list of thing you didn’t know about composting to help you get started.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
Another idea is to check with your city’s Public Works or Sanitation department. Often times they have compost bins available for residents to purchase at a discounted price because they’re subsidized by the city. For example, the city of Nashville’s Public Works department sells the 80 gallon Earth Machine compost bin to residents for $50 (tax included), and the Bureau of Sanitation for Los Angeles offers it for $20, both of which are substantially less than the Home Depot price of $109. It’s definitely worth looking into before you pay the retail price! (An easy way to check if your city sells compost bins is just Googling the name of your city and the word compost. If they offer any programs, they should come up on the first page of results.)
@N. Davis Thanks for these tips! We’ll add them to the post so others can benefit (in case they don’t read the comments). My town also subsidizes the cost of composters. We got our Earth Machine for $40. I love to see my tax dollars at work this way!
I use a compost bin that I received for free from my City Sanitation Dept. I just had to attend a short class in composting and drove away with a fantastic bin!
I also compost by digging fairly large holes in my backyard and toss in my daily veggie scraps and junk mail…when it’s nearly full I cover it with dirt. I have had a family raccoons visiting to see what’s in the heap, so I have started covering it with a weighted down crate. Last year I got some free tomato, potato, butternut squash, leeks and green onion plants! They just grew wild out of the compost! I’ve had carrots pop up and ginger root too! I also have a 5 foot chestnut tree! I love this method because I don’t have to turn the scraps or anything, the hardest part is digging the hole!
@Katswan That’s great that digging a hole to compost has worked so well for you. Plus, it eliminates the step of transferring the compost to your soil. I’m not a fan of digging out the finished compost, filling a bucket, then unloading it in my garden beds. But I do like having the compost contained. My dog or my children would dig through an open compost pile in a minute!
I’ve always wanted to compost, but never gotten around to it. What do you recommend for first time composters? Is jumping into buying a composter the right thing, or should I try the old fashioned way first?
@The Wallet Doctor If you can score a decent composter for not too much, and you can save money by not having to buy garden soil, then I’d say dive right in! If you have to pay for each bag of trash you throw out, then DEFINITELY dive right in. TODAY! 🙂
If you’re hesitant, see if you can find a super discounted composter on Craigslist or a garage sale.
By the way, what’s the old fashioned way? Digging a hole, as @Katswan does?