Others say...

"Fruit fly infestation!"
I have had this composter for about a month. It replaced an old tupperware container that worked fine but wasn't very nice to look at. I will admit this device is nice shiny stainless steel and seems to be of good construction. However I am beginning to suspect that it came stocked with several million fruit fly eggs. My house is full of fruit flies! They are even flying around my head while I'm brushing my teeth in my bathroom. In fact, they seem to love hanging around my damp bath towel as it hangs to dry. My kitchen is full of the little critters. We have lots of guests and it is embarrassing to have to explain why a swarm of bugs is hovering over their breakfast plates.

My shiny new composter is now sitting outside the back door. I have banished it from the house. I don't know how to break the reproductive cycle of these little critters but I am willing to use whatever chemicals necessary to be fruit fly free.

I am going back to my trusty old sealing lid tupperware container. The RSVP International Stainless Steel Compost Pail is a poorly designed food scrap collector. Food scraps do not need to breathe. There is plenty of time for that once they reach the outdoor composter.

"TOP QUALITY COMPOST PAIL"
This item looks good, is well built, and above all, does the job. Very happy with my purchase.

"Works great no bugs."
I like this a lot. It is very stylish and what may seem to be a disadvantage I believe to be a big advantage, it's not too big. I have not had the issues with fruit bugs as others have had but I would recommend emptying it more often. When you keep it until it is full you are inviting smell and bugs. If you empty it every three or four days I found no problem. Also you can put a large rubber band arount the top lid and it can act as a seal when it is closed. I think it's build very well and very easy to rinse out and clean.

"Great Product! Odor Free"
This is a great product. I purchased it 6 months ago and I a still very happy with it. Looks great on the counter and makes composting much less of a chore. It's large enough to hold about a weeks's worth of vegetable scraps for our family of 3 (and we eat a good amount of vegetables). When emptied 1 -2 times per week the contents of the pail remain odor and fly free. Even when we accidentally forgot to empty the pail before leaving on vacation for two weeks, we returned to an odor free, fly free kitchen. (The carbon filters did a great job of keeping the odors in the pail, and after a quick wash with the garden hose all was good again). Another great feature of this design is that the pail is made of one piece of stainless steel. There are no seams to break or leak, so I expect that this pail will last for years and years. I don't use a liner in the pail and after 6 months of continuous usage there are no signs of corrosion.


I'd like to address a couple of comments from the negative reviews.

1) This pail is certainly not designed for actually composting anything. It's designed to be an interim storage container. For easy composting in a small space I recommend the worm factory. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HWX8PY

2) The holes on top are a great design feature, they let air in which is very important for preventing bad odors. In the presence of oxygen, decomposition will have an earthy smell. Without oxygen you will have anerobic decomposition. Anerobic bacteria are the culprits that produce those very bad sulferous odors.

3) Fruit flies can occur as a result of eggs that are present on the skins of fruits and vegetabls that are placed in the pail. In my experience the flies CANNOT get past the carbon filters. To solve the problem of fruit flies, simlply empty the bin frequently (2x per week is enough) or, microwave vegetable matter before putting it into the bin. If you do notice flies in your bin, empty it, remove the filters and rinse them off to remove any fly larve then wipe the inside surface of the lid clean before replacing the filters. This should solve the fly problem.

"Great, except for bail handle mounts"
Works well. No smell, and I've not had to replace the carbon pads yet (~ 6 months).

Well made with one exception - the bail handle mounts. These are hollow and broke in less than a month. An easy fix was made using solid, stainless-steel kitchen cabinet knobs obtained from the local home store, but it was another $6. Once this fix is made, I have no doubt it will provide a lifetime of service.