Details
The NatureMill ULTRA is the latest, most advanced NatureMill model. The ULTRA has a number of improved features over previous models including a greater capacity, a fingerprint-free stainless steel exterior and a quieter motor.
The NatureMill ULTRA is a "continuous-use" composter. This means you can continue to add food scraps while the composting process is working. The bottom chamber holds the finished compost until you are ready to use it. A red light will display when the bottom chamber is full.
The NatureMill ULTRA product highlights include:
- Produces approximately 2 gallons (6L) of compost every two weeks, depending on use
- 4 gallon (15 L) weekly capacity: perfect for a family of 4-5 people
- Genuine stainless steel, fingerprint-proof exterior
- Quiet: operates at an average of 47 decibels
- Heavy-duty mode for faster composting (increased heat and mixing)
- Lifetime filter never needs replacing
- 1-yr product warranty
It’s easy to use the NatureMill. Simply lift the lid, and dump in your food scraps. The composter will automatically mix, heat, and aerate these scraps in the upper chamber. Food scraps are then transferred to the lower chamber where it continues to compost. The moist air (most of the food’s weight and size is water) is sucked out through a carbon filter which also removes the composting odors. After two weeks, a red light will come on to let you know it’s time to remove the lower chamber and put the compost in your garden or on your potted plants.
Click here for bulk sawdust pellets to help with composting.
Features & Benefits
- The heat (up to 140F) in the upper chamber destroys any pathogens, seeds, and odors.
- Uses only 5 watts of energy, which costs about $0.50 per month in electricity, depending on local rates.
- Easily composts most scraps, including dairy, meat, and fish.
- Accepts food waste any time, any day, up to 4 gallons (15 L) per week. Fine for a family of 5.
- Energy Save Mode reduces composting energy consumption by 75%.
- The exterior is made using recycled and recyclable polyethylene which is clad in stainless steel, and the interior uses food-grade stainless steel and aluminum internal components.
- Can be used outdoors, on your porch or garage in temperatures ranging from 0-120F.
- The lid of the machine contains a reference sheet with specific examples of what can be composted.
- No assembly required.
- Includes sawdust and baking soda to help with composting
Videos
Getting to Know Your NatureMill
Everyday Use of Your NatureMill
Warranty
The one-year warranty includes: free replacement parts, repair by field technician, or replacement of entire unit. Return an unused unit within 30 days for a full refund. Due to the biological implications of composting, returns generally not accepted after contact with food waste.
Cleaning & Maintenance
Maintenance of your NatureMill is easy and minimal. Wipe the hopper and exterior with a moist towel. Rinse the cure tray and drip tray when you empty them. Do not disturb the compost cultures in the reactor chamber. Do not use soaps or chemicals. p>
Improvements over earlier NatureMill models
- Stronger Motor: Motors used to jam on large or hard composting tasks, so we doubled the motor strength, without increasing energy consumption. A new grinding feature devours stubborn compost items. And if a jam occurs, the motor will try again every 4 hours until the jam clears. A new "Heavy-Duty" mode is available on Pro and ULTRA models to handle even the toughest composting challenges.
- More Powerful filter: Our compost bin engineers have refined the "secret recipe" for compost. We've increased air filtration with a new quieter pump and a new carbon filter. The carbon filter has a lifetime guarantee on Pro and ULTRA models. More even heat circulation ensures that corners and edges compost effectively.
- Energy Saver Mode: This convenient feature enables you to reduce NatureMill's energy consumption by 75%. Now you can reduce mixing, heating, and air flow rate when you go on vacation, or if you just do not have much to compost.
- The Little Extras: Instruction manuals can be so intimidating - so we added a Quick Start Guide to make operation easier than any compost tumbler. Some people live in rainy places - so we upgraded the waterproofing of the entire unit. These features represent years of product design evolution!
More Detail
- No worms, bugs, or trash odors: Natural compost cultures consume waste quickly, without odors. They produce a mild aroma like sourdough, mushrooms, or straw. Balance the chemistry by adding sawdust to increase "brown" content, and baking soda to reduce acidity (both are included). A fan draws air into the machine, providing oxygen to the cultures. A powerful carbon filter removes any lingering odors.
- Use it anywhere: Fits inside any standard cabinet. Keep it in the kitchen, a garage, or laundry room. Use it outdoors, even in the snow, rain, or freezing temperatures. Keep the power supply dry, using a weather-rated power outlet (available at most hardware stores).
- Endless supply of compost: Empty the cure tray when the indicator light comes on - roughly every two weeks. More than 70% of the initial waste disappears into thin air -- literally -- as compost cultures convert it into water vapor. What's left is a very concentrated compost fertilizer. Fresh compost has a mild organic aroma, which people often describe as damp wool, sourdough bread, or mushrooms. You can use it outdoors immediately, or leave it in a bucket or tote until you are ready to garden.
- Compost is the best fertilizer you can give your garden: Food compost is very high in nitrogen, which is essential for growing healthy plants. Spread over the soil surface, like mulch. Nutrients will gradually enter the soil during watering and annual tilling. Use it on your garden, lawn, shrubs, trees, or indoor potted plants. One batch of compost is enough for 10-40 sq ft (1-4 sq m) of a lawn or garden, applied once or twice per year. Or use one batch per tree. You can also infuse mature compost with water to brew "compost tea" liquid fertilizer.
- Great for the environment: Energy use is just 5 kwh / month, or about $0.50/month - less than a garbage truck would burn in diesel fuel to haul away the same waste. A NatureMill composter recycles its weight in waste every 10 days, diverting over two tons of waste from landfills over its life. This reduces emissions of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas produced when organic matter decomposes in oxygen-starved landfills. NatureMill is made from recycled and recyclable materials. Every NatureMill composter meets or surpasses the stringent California Energy Efficiency Level IV - the most stringent energy standard in the world.
Warranty
1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty
Sustainability
- Very energy efficient
- Made from recycled materials
- This product reduces landfill waste and produces nutrient rich soil for gardening
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
We want you to be completely satisfied with every purchase you make. If you are in any way dissatisfied with a product you ordered, we'll exchange it, replace it or refund your money within 30 days of purchase. Simply email us the problem, and we'll take care of you. Certain products have extended warranties (up to 50 years!) that are listed on the particular product page. Please call us at 1-888-451-6752 if you need further clarification.
Additional Information
| Capacity | 150 lbs organic waste per month. Add items any time, any day. Ideal for a family up to 5 people. |
|---|---|
| Weight | 17 lbs |
| Material | External housing: recycled + recyclable energy-efficient polypropylene. Internal components: Food-grade stainless steel |
| Dimensions | 20" high x 20" deep x 12" wide (51x51x30cm), 6 foot cord length |
| Key Feature | Electronic Automatic Indoor Composter |
| Manufacturer | Naturemill |
| Origin | Made in the U.S.A. |
Shipping Information
- Shipping Details:
- Insured against damage or loss while in transit
- This Product Ships To:
- US Lower 48
- International Orders:
- email info@eartheasy.com for rates.
- Ships Via:
- FedEx
Questions about the NatureMill ULTRA Automatic Indoor Composter
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- No-hassle, 30 day returns
- No sales tax
- Quick shipping
- Secure shopping (SSL, PCI, McAfee Secure)
- In business since 2000
- Member of Better Business Bureau, Green America, and US EPA Watersense
- Carbon-neutral, Family-owned business that promotes sustainability!
Customer Reviews
| Quality |
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At long last, a composter that actually delivers and really CAN stay inside!
By on 1/27/13
All my reviews (1)
I got this composter a couple months ago and wanted to spend some time using it before I reviewed it. I've been on kind of a journey looking for a composter that truly works well in an apartment setting, and have been disappointed by worm composting and other options I've attempted. I had pretty much given up until I saw this, and all I can say is FINALLY! This composter is the perfect size, super easy to maintain, there's absolutely no smell, and the compost is top notch. I couldn't have asked for an easier or better designed solution.
My boyfriend and I are both vegan so we go through a lot of veggie scraps and we also drink a lot of coffee. This thing handles all of it like a champ. We pretty much throw everything in: potatoes, coffee grounds, tea, herbs, apple pieces, orange rinds, banana peels, strawberry tops, onion peels, cucumbers, etc. etc. Anything that seems like it might get caught on the arm, I usually cut up a few times just to be sure, the banana, for example, or the strings off of the tea bags we use. But that's as much maintenance of the scraps I've done. I don't put in broccoli or kale since they tend to smell, but that's the only thing I've avoided. It really is the easiest composting I've ever done, no pre-chopping or warming it before tossing it in, no manual turning, no complicated ritual. Just toss in the scraps and in about two weeks, we have dark, rich brown compost. The kit that comes with the composter, baking soda and sawdust pellets, make balancing the compost extremely simple. With any composting, the key is balancing the brown, dry ingredients with the wet, green ingredients. So, in order to get good quality and eliminate smell, you dump in your scraps and add a bit of the sawdust pellets every so often to make sure your compost is getting a good balance of the two. This eliminates the smell and any concerns about mold or bugs or anything. The machine also keeps everything at a nice warm temperature which accelerates the composting process. Sometimes I've opened it and steam comes out, which is just amazing to see without having to do any work on it myself.
Even though it stays plugged in, I've not noticed a difference in our utility bills at all, so I know it seems counter productive to keep a composter plugged in, but the energy use is negligible, especially if you consider how much more energy is expelled if you threw the material in the trash and it had to be hauled away by large trucks and sent to facilities to be processed. So if you don't have any other composting options and it's either this machine or the dump, then it's clearly better from a carbon standpoint to handle your food waste at the point of use than to just throw it out with the rest of your garbage.
People have mentioned the sound, and that's just personal preference. In my experience, when the machine is on "high" it sounds like something in between a fish tank and a new dishwasher. You hear it, but it's kind of a low hum, and it's much quieter than our furnace has been this winter, so I absolutely don't understand why that was a deal breaker for some people. Once every hour or so, there's an arm in the machine that rotates your food scraps, you hear it for a minute or so, similar to a trash compactor, and then it quiets down again to the low hum. Like the furnace or the sound of AC kicking on and off, this is the type of sound that you get used to and stop hearing after you live with it. The machine is also much quieter when you put it on medium and low settings, which you can switch to after the first week or two. I would urge people to stick with it longer than that initial period, and you'll realize how minor it really is. Our composter is sitting in the middle of our kitchen/dining area, that's how much it doesn't smell and how minor the sound really is.
It's also large enough that we've not maxed it out even remotely before the compost is ready. The tall, long design allows me to easily tuck it into a corner inconspicuously. It's about the size of an overnight suitcase. As a bonus, the stainless steel just makes it look like any other appliance, quite different than the usual composting options.
I know that's a long review, but with how expensive the machine is and how hard it is to find a good composting solution for an apartment or small space, I felt like it merited a bigger response. I would absolutely recommend this machine to anyone, in fact, I wish everyone had it so they could see how easy composting really can be. With the addition of this machine and recycling, we maybe have a bag of trash a month. Hope this helped you!
Would you recommend this product to a friend? Definitely yes
I am an avid city dwelling juicer. I heard about this composter when I had a bout of guilt throwing my left over vegetable bits in the trash. I ordered it on Friday arrived Tuesday..yay. The packaging is perfect size, no waste, the bits are packed inside the composter. I opened the box, put it on the counter and dumped the bag of veg bits in that I have been saving since I ordered this, tossed in a few wood bits and a bit of baking soda.
I am using high power for the first batch (as instructed) and the noise is just a like an aquarium pump. I was playing with power levels and found it completely silent at low power. The machine started to grind or rotate my stuff while I was playing with the button, it was audible but not loud, so I popped open the lid and watched it do its thing. Cool. So far so good.
The construction is simple but seems strong, the material is a thick hard foam that keeps sound down and heat in. Looks good in stainless kitchen. I will leave it on low over the weekend while I travel and will update on my return.
Would you recommend this product to a friend? Definitely yes
| Quality |
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BIg Thumbs Down
By on 10/10/12
We had the Nature Mill tested by an avid composter. The heat was impressive, and did speed up the process. However, praise stops there. While the NatureMill was fast, it fell short in other ways. It was noisy, smelly, attracted flies, jammed frequently and following the instructions that it came with was onerous and inconvenient. And using electricity to compost when it can be done in a much more sustainable manner seemed odd, to put it mildly.
At first, the machine was kept in the house but it was so noisy it was moved to the garage. In the heat of summer, a swarm of flies hovered over top. The rotating "mill" jammed frequently and had to be manually loosened and restarted. The odour was unpleasant despite following instructions to add baking soda. "The baking soda didn't seem to make a difference," reported our tester. "The bugs were attracted by the smell so it was a disgusting machine to have indoors."
For every five cups of food waste, she was instructed to add one cup of sawdust pellets and one tablespoon of baking soda, but the instructions also restricted the makeup of the waste: just two pieces of acidic foods such as orange peel, lemon rind, tomato, pineapple and grapes. "It was odd to count what went into my compost bin," she says.
While the finished compost was ready to spread after just five days, she found it to be dry and lifeless, not rich and moist like the compost produced by her worms. Final word: "If you want to process as quickly as you can, and get that much compost out, then go for it. But if you're looking for something that's sustainable and environmentally friendly, it's not easy to live with."
NatureMill Composter - thumbs down.
Would you recommend this product to a friend? Never!
| Quality |
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civilized composting
By on 3/9/12
This is definitely the most civilized compost. The machine does the work for you. If you cut things up it goes faster but most things you don't even need to do that because it grinds it up after a few hours. You can get the first batch of compost within a week. It's really great.
It is weather proof so you can use it outdoors if you have a plug out there, but we keep ours inside in the pantry next to our kitchen. Very convenient. You can hear it mix once in a while but really can't hear very much because it is very quiet.
Would you recommend this product to a friend? Definitely yes
I would recommend this, however, people need to know they can't just toss in huge watermellon rinds or entire 'bad' heads of lettuce as you can with outdoor composters. You have to cut this stuff up and put in smaller pieces or it'll take a long time to decompose or it might even jam. That said, it's great for most stuff, and it certainly looks sleek in my kitchen.
Would you recommend this product to a friend? Definitely yes
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