8 Best Backyard Composters for Managing Yard Waste

One of the best things you can do is to start composting food waste. It's good not just for your garden, but for the whole planet. Outdoor compost saves space in landfills, cuts costs on lawn and garden care, and even helps avoid environmental damage: Food that goes to the landfill in plastic bags causes greenhouse gasses, whereas food that goes through the composting process can actually trap carbon in the earth.

And if you're a gardener, composting is a no-brainer. There's no cheaper way to improve your soil and grow fantastic flowers, vegetables, and other plants than by adding compost to the garden. So whether you're looking to give your front lawn more curb appeal, are turning the back yard into the English garden of your dreams, are putting in a few raised beds to grow veggies, there are a ton of great reasons to start a backyard compost pile.

Here's a quick primer on how to build a working compost pile. You don't necessarily want to just start piling banana peels and eggshells by the back shed! It'll attract critters, and the smell might make neighbors upset. Instead, most folks keep a compost bin in the kitchen and then transfer full bins out to a backyard composter.

If you're thinking of starting to compost — or just upgrade your current system, these are the backyard composters that we recommend.

Our top yard compost bin picks

• Best Inexpensive Composter (That'll Still Keep Pests Out): Redmon 65 Gallon
  
• Best Tumble Composter: FCMP Dual Chamber
• Best Worm Composter: Worm Factory 360
  
• Best High-End Composter Jora Tumbler
• Best Setup for Yard-Waste: LeRok 3 Bin Wire Composter System