Define 'efficiently' - least work, fastest, less space, less cost, or what exactly? And what are you mostly composting, kitchen scraps, yard waste, or what?

My 'method' is to throw all household compostables and kitchen scraps in a large bin and mostly forget about it. Very efficient from my somewhat lazy perspective. Cardboard added relatively often because recycling where I am is spotty.

Yard stuff is mostly done separately in piles.

You can do it in a pile, in a bin, in a tumbler, in a large container. You can look at the bins and tumblers at Amazon. You can compost just kitchen scraps, or you can add in yard trimmings. There are lots of good youtube videos about composting. You can also do vermicomposting which involves worms which help decompose your kitchen scraps. For that you need a book called "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary (can't remember last name).

It's not tricky, it's taking advantage of Mother Nature's ability to decompose organic matter and turn it in to compost or mulch which benefits your plants when you scatter or work it into your garden soil. But you should educate yourself a bit by way of youtube or other online sources. Or get a book.

There is a vermicomposting forum here on GardenWeb.

No, we know nothing about composting here. :-D

Seriously though, read some threads, there's a ton of stuff here already! If you have a specific question, post that and we'll try to answer.

When it comes to composting, ”efficient” and ”fast “ are two different things.

Honestly? Buy it. I’m perfectly serious.

I assume that you have either a brand new house or a major renovation, right?

You aren’t going to beat mechanized machinery.

I live in kind of a woo-woo area and there are a couple of operations run by guys with ag degrees from big time universities. But you can find it anywhere . Be sure you find someone reputable.

The main thing is to get ahead of the game. Once you have a yard or two of surplus after tending to your immediate needs, you can take your sweet time making your own.

Trying to set a speed record for making compost is dumb. It involves turning the pile quite a lot if you are still interested.

If you have lead time thanks to your purchased pile you mix woody material (“browns”) with high Nitrogen material, (“greens”) keep it damp and let her rip. Maybe turn the pile once or twice.

I find it advantageous to ”feed” the pile weekly with small (25g net N) additions and water after the pile is supposedly finished.

Kelvin, try direct composting, i.e. digging everything what you would otherwise put on the compost pile directly into the soil. Depending on what you have to compost, and on the soil and weather conditions, you could also leave it on the soil surface as a mulch. It is how Nature works. She doesn't pile everything up in one place to scatter it later. And she abhors plastic bins.

People compost for different reasons. For example:

1. They have scrap vegetable matter they don't want to add to a landfill.
2. They want free soil amendments for their garden

Note that the first reason focuses on the input - you want to use up excess materials, and the second reason focuses on the output - you need more compost. What works best for you depends on which side of the equation you want to prioritize.

Another factor has to do with where you live. If you are in a rural area on a large property then having compost piles on the edge of the property is nothing anyone would notice. In the suburbs piles of vegetation may not be as easily hidden, and in the city you have very little space to begin with and have to factor in rats. Large bins make more sense in suburban yards and tumblers may be the only possible "rat proof" option for the city.

However, I agree with Floral_UK - if your definition of "efficient" is least amount of work and most potent end product - slow cold composting is the way to go. Put a bunch of carbon-rich material (leaves, twigs, wood) in a pile or bin and let it sit for a couple of years (longer if there are chunks of wood), and you will end up with a rich, moist hummus that would benefit any type of soil. After all, this is the way Mother Nature does it and this process created all the fertile soil on Earth.

If you want fast, then start with the same pile but:

• Chop everything into small bits
• Add "green" nitrogen-rich materials as well
• Make the pile as big as you can - bigger than 1 meter square at the smallest. The bigger it is the faster it will go. A steaming mountain of brown and green material will stay warm even in the winter. And hotter = faster.
• Turn the pile every couple of weeks

You can get usable compost in about six months. But it will have less nutrients because much of the nitrogen has been used up in the process. That, plus the extra labor involved, is the cost of going fast and hot versus slow and cold.

That's not true, is it? Nitrogen is used up in the process whether it's a hot or cold process.

You are correct, annpat.

tj