OSTER
A Convenient Means of Indoor Composting.
About
Oster was born from a desire to bring sustainable living into the heart of the home. As cities grow denser and our lifestyles become busier, composting often feels impractical for urban dwellers. Oster rethinks this by creating an elegant, cupboard-sized solution that transforms everyday kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost, right where it’s needed most.
FOOD WASTE.
Food waste makes up 20% of all landfill content. While biodegradable, it’s far from harmless when buried in anaerobic landfill conditions, producing methane gas and leaching pollutants. By intercepting this waste at home, Oster helps prevent greenhouse gas emissions and turns what was once trash into a valuable resource for plants.
Why Worms?
Worms are nature’s most efficient composters. Red wigglers can consume their own body weight in food scraps daily, breaking them down into vermicompost, a nutrient-dense, microbe-rich soil conditioner that far outperforms standard compost. They work quietly, without smell, and without fuss, making them perfect housemates for your cupboard.
Ideation.
The design process began with exploring how to integrate worm-based composting into a modern kitchen environment. Early sketches focused on:
Compact, modular sizing to fit standard cupboards
Easy-access feeding and harvesting points
Odor control and ventilation
A clean, minimal aesthetic to match contemporary interiors
Concept.
The final Oster design blends functionality with discretion. Its smooth, unobtrusive form hides a multi-tiered worm habitat that allows scraps to be processed efficiently without mess. The tiers make harvesting compost easy, simply lift, remove, and replenish.
Introducing Oster.
Oster is an innovative indoor worm composter designed specifically to fit seamlessly into your kitchen cupboard, bringing eco-friendly waste management right into the heart of your home. Its compact, modular design fits perfectly within standard cabinetry, transforming unused cupboard space into a powerful composting system.
Featuring stackable trays that are easy to lift and manage, Oster allows you to effortlessly feed food scraps to the worms and harvest nutrient-rich vermicompost without ever leaving your kitchen. The sleek, minimal form hides a highly functional multi-layer habitat, providing worms with an optimal environment to process organic waste efficiently and odorlessly.
A thoughtfully engineered slide-out base tray collects excess liquid, preventing mess and making maintenance simple. With its clean, contemporary aesthetic and user-friendly operation, Oster makes sustainable living convenient, approachable, and practical — no backyard or outdoor space required.
Manufacture.
Oster’s body is made from recycled, food-safe polypropylene for durability and sustainability. Internal trays are precision-moulded for optimal airflow and worm mobility. Mounts simply into a standard 600mm kitchen cupboard. The design allows for easy disassembly, cleaning, and end-of-life recycling.
Oster by Jacob Cave | Spring 2020 | Coventry University
For full submission project ‘HERE’