Dropped $500 on a fancy home compost system that turned into a fly factory

Back in 2022 I saw this slick electric compost bin advertised as the future of kitchen waste. Paid $500 for it thinking I'd save money on trash bags and help the planet. After three months the motor started making this grinding noise and the smell was UNREAL. Flies were literally breeding in the filter and I had to chuck the whole thing in a landfill anyway. Lesson learned: sometimes simple is better. My wire mesh bin in the backyard works ten times better and cost like $30 at a garage sale in Denver. Has anyone else gotten burned on those high tech eco gadgets?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_oscar1d ago

Oh man, reminds me of the $200 "smart" trash can I bought that beeped at me every time I walked past it.

wyatt_green311d ago

That "future of kitchen waste" line hits hard because I fell for the exact same marketing. I had one of those countertop composters that claimed to turn scraps into soil in like 4 hours. Spoiler alert: it just cooked the food into a wet, moldy mess that smelled way worse than if I'd just let it rot outside. You're totally right that simple is better. The high tech stuff just gives you more stuff to break and more places for bugs to hide. My buddy has a tumbling composter he got for free off Craigslist and it's been going strong for years with zero issues. Why do we keep thinking throwing money at a problem makes it go away faster?