The world is becoming more and more overrun with household waste as the years go by.
If you’re serious about reducing how much waste you send to landfill, a HOTBIN composter might be just the thing you need.
With a HOTBIN composter, you can produce homemade organic compost in one to three months.
Not only that but you can also put much more into your bin than a traditional compost bin, which reduces your household waste further.
In This Article – We’ll explore the top three cheapest HOTBIN composters compared. Firstly, though, we’ll look at what a HOTBIN composter is and how the system works.
Table of Contents
What Is a HOTBIN Composter?
HOTBIN composters were first designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom and have only recently made it to the United States.
There are several different styles of composter but all of them work in the same way.
Unlike traditional composting, a HOTBIN composter can be used with all garden waste and all kitchen waste. This includes raw food, cooked food, and leftovers.
The bin has insulating walls that lock in the heat produced during the composting process. There is no artificial heat or power needed.
The great thing about HOTBIN composters is that you don’t need to turn or tumble anything either. They’re 32 times faster than a normal compost bin and keep working all through winter.
Other benefits of hot composting are that the heat kills of pathogens, fly larvae and eggs, and weed seeds.
How Do HOTBIN Composters work?
When you’re hot composting, your compost is being made at temperatures between 104 °F and 140 °F. With cold composting, you’re looking at temperatures of 68 °F.
With a HOTBIN composter, it’s all about aerobic composting and bacteria.
Aerobic composting means incorporating oxygen into the decomposition process, which is why other hot composting bins need turning to get air into the mixture.
If the bacteria is going to perform their task, they need four things:
- Food
- Water
- Warmth
- Oxygen
The bacterial activity of digesting the waste is what produces the heat.
The bacteria will operate well between 104 °F and 140 °F but they won’t work at temperatures above 167 °F.
The oxygen, as well as being essential for aerobic composting, also means the waste doesn’t become a sloppy, wet mess.
The speed at which the heat is released depends on the waste in the compost bin – how much, the size, and what it is. Plant material will release heat faster than lignin (wood), for example.
If no oxygen is present, methane will be produced, and the composting process won’t be effective.
With HOTBIN composters, oxygenation is aided by Free Airspaces (FAS) and HOTBIN has between 20 and 30% of free air space in their composters that they maintain by using composted wood chip, shredded paper or ripped up corrugated card as a bulking agent.
Anytime new waste is added to the bin, bulking agent is added too, and this means no tumbling or turning is needed.
Compared to creating a compost heap or doing cold composting, hot composting bins are more expensive.
With this in mind, we’ll introduce you to the three cheapest HOTBIN composters compared.
1. HOTBIN 100 Mini 26 Gal.
Specification
- Volume: 26 gallons
- Size of household: 1 to 3 people
- Size of garden: small-medium
- Weight: 8.9 lbs.
- Material: EPP – Expanded Polypropylene
- Thickness: 2 inches (insulating)
- Dimensions: 17” x 17” x 45”
Description
The cheapest HOTBIN composter is the HOTBIN 100 Mini.
This is available for under $300 and was the UK’s RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year in 2019.
It is a slimline composter that’s designed for a small to medium-sized garden and a household of between one and three people.
The Mini holds 26 gallons yet still has the advantages of providing a short composting cycle to reduce household waste.
It’s important to choose a composter that fits the size of your garden and house because the process of hot composting relies on regular waste batches being added.
With the Mini HOTBIN composter, you get the benefits of year-round composting. So, even when it’s winter, your composter will still produce compost and get rid of waste.
Because the composting process is hot, you can also add more things to it than you would with a cold composter. This includes cooked foot, leftovers, bones, and even pet poop!
You might be thinking that this must be a pretty smelly piece of kit to have in your garden, but the HOTBIN Mini has a filter made of charcoal to reduce odors.
This also means pests won’t be attracted to the garden.
Finally, the HOTBIN Mini has a leachate collection system. This means you can collect the liquid produced by the compost bin and use it as a fertilizer.
What’s in the box
As well as the HOTBIN itself, you get:
- A lid thermometer so you can monitor the internal temperature
- A bio-filter to minimize the odors produced
- An airtight lid
- An aeration base plate that disperses air throughout the bin
- A front hatch to allow you to harvest your new compost
- A thermometer to measure the temperature inside the HOTBIN
- A stick to rake and mix your waste
- A bottle of Kick Start to help you boost the temperature of your HOTBIN if you begin the process in winter
- A strap to keep the odor in
- A user guide
You don’t get any bulking agent, and this is necessary so you will have to buy this.
2. HOTBIN 200 MK2 52 Gal.
Specification
- Volume: 52 gallons
- Size of household: 3 to 5 people
- Size of garden: medium
- Weight: 18 lbs.
- Material: EPP – Expanded Polypropylene
- Thickness: 2 inches (insulating)
- Dimensions: 22” x 22” x 45”
Description
The next cheapest option in the HOTBIN range is the HOTBIN 200 MK2.
This is double the size of the HOTBIN Mini and has a composting volume capacity of 55 gallons. It gets these added gallons by its width and depth and is still the same 45” height of the Mini.
Like the Mini, it has a short composting cycle and works 32 times faster than cold composting.
You can have compost ready in one month to three months and you don’t need to tumble or fork the mixture. You’ll also not have any issues with odors, flies, or rodents.
The HOTBIN 200 is ideal for larger families and households of around three to five people.
If you have a smaller family but lots of animals (with poop that needs clearing up), this composter is also ideal because you can put pet poop in it.
What’s in the box
As well as the HOTBIN, you get:
- A lid thermometer that monitors the internal temperature
- A bio-filter that minimizes the odors produced
- An airtight lid to keep heat in and odors out
- An aeration base plate that helps to disperse the air through the bin
- A removable front hatch for harvesting your new compost
- An additional thermometer for measuring the internal temperature of the HOTBIN
- A raking stick to mix your waste
- A bottle of Kick Start to help boost the temperature of the HOTBIN if you start the composting during the winter months
- Two straps to keep the odor in and keep the door airtight
- A user guide
As with the Mini, you don’t get any bulking agent with your order so this needs to be purchased separately and is essential for the correct functioning of the composting process.
3. HOTBIN Mega 450 119 Gal.
Specification
- Volume: 119 gallons
- Size of household: 5+ people
- Size of the garden: large
- Material: EPP – Expanded Polypropylene
- Thickness: 2 inches (insulating)
- Dimensions: 34” x 29” x 45” (the 185-gallon Mega is 34” x 47” x 45”)
Description
The HOTBIN Mega comes in two sizes, a 119-gallon capacity and a 185-gallon capacity.
The 119-gallon HOTBIN is around $200 cheaper than the largest one and so it’s this HOTBIN Mega that we’ll focus on.
The HOTBIN Mega follows all of the same HOTBIN principles of the smaller versions but on a different scale.
This bin allows people to compost on a large scale quickly and easily. With this composter, you can expect compost every three months without flies, odor, tumbling or forking.
The size of this makes it ideal for those with a large garden and large family. It’s also great for a recycling center, community garden or even a small day-care center, for example.
Unlike the HOTBIN MINI and the HOTBIN 200 MK2, the HOTBIN Mega requires assembly due to its sheer size.
It comes in three boxes and is supplied flatback. Though it could be assembled by a single person, HOTBIN does recommend two people is better.
Another thing that’s great about this HOTBIN is that you can buy an expansion kit. This means you can turn it into the larger 1985-gallon HOTBIN composter at a later date.
So, if you’re unsure about whether you need the larger one you can be safe in the knowledge that you can always make it bigger later.
One thing that is different about this larger HOTBIN is that there is no Leachate collection so you can’t collect liquid fertilizer. Instead, any liquid drains from the base corners.
This is also a batch composter rather than a continuous composter.
So, you fill it up then harvest it when it’s ready every three months. It needs around 20 kg of waste per week to remain hot. That’s the equivalent of half a wheelbarrow.
In a year, it will produce between 1800 and 3000 liters of compost.
Tips on HOTBIN composting
If you’re going to get a HOTBIN composter, it’s important to set it off right for the best results.
It needs to be located on a flat, hard surface. This is to discourage any animals from nesting under it.
For Similar Reasons – You should ensure it is closed securely with the cam straps as supplied. If there are gaps in the lid or door, heat will be lost, odors will come out, and animals will be attracted to it.
The last thing you want is for your compost to be a nesting ground for rats or other rodents.
A HOTBIN composter also needs to be kept clean on the outside.
If you’re putting in leftover food and spill some around the door, hatch, or lid, it needs to be cleaned up straight away so that it doesn’t attract foxes or vermin.
Cheapest HOTBIN Composters Compared – a summary
| HOTBIN Mini | HOTBIN MK2 | HOTBIN Mega |
|---|---|---|
| Small family (2-3) | Medium family (3-5) | Large family (5+) |
| Small yard | Small-medium yard | Large yard |
| 26-gallon capacity | 52-gallon capacity | 119-gallon capacity (or 185-gallon) |
| Leachate collection | Leachate collection | No leachate collection (liquid drains from the corners) |
| Needs minimum 5 liters of waste per week to stay hot | Needs minimum 10 liters of waste per week to stay hot | Needs minimum 40 liters of waste per week to stay hot |
| Produces up to 600 liters of compost per year | Produces up to 1200 liters of compost per year | Produces up to 3000 liters of compost per year |
| Continuous composter (feed at top, harvest at bottom) | Continuous composter (feed at top, harvest at bottom) | Batch composter (fill up, harvest when finished) |
| No assembly required | No assembly required | Assembly required |
| Available for under $300 | Available for around $460 | Available for around $560 ($765 for 185-gallon model) |
| Check Price | Check Price | Check Price |
Cheapest HOTBIN Composters Compared Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt about it, HOTBIN composters are excellent value for anyone wanting to reduce how much they send to landfill.
The great thing about them is that you can add way more to them than a cold composter – bones, cooked food, leftovers, and even pet poop!
Now, we’ve seen the top 3 cheapest ones, it’s up to you to decide which one best meets your requirements.
The only thing to bear in mind with the larger, Mega models is that they are a batch composter rather than a continuous composter, which might not suit some people.
Otherwise, it’s down to size and the amount of waste you produce as a household.
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