Fresh Earth Products

The company, Fresh Earth Products, was founded in 2012 to make the new Speedibin composter available. With an enthusiasm for backyard food production, we see composting as a basic step in organic gardening.

Based in Merville on Vancouver Island British Columbia, Speedibin composter production is the main focus at the moment. Speedibins are fabricated in Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada and are available for shipping pretty much anywhere in Canada and the United States.

Fresh Earth Products is owned and operated by Joyce and Paul McMenamon who work with a talented team to develop Speedibin production. And we have many other cool ideas in the pipeline. Send us a note if you have suggestions. Remember, we’re all enjoying this planet together!

Our History

The Speedibin composter was first designed in 1989 by Fred and Peg Francis of Victoria, BC, Canada. After attending university together, Peg taught elementary school and Fred taught mathematics in high schools and college. They have also designed other commercial products including the cleanburning Seefire woodstove, children’s building sets and the meeting rules book Democratic Rules of Order.

Idealists and avid gardeners, they worked to design the ultimate pest-proof backyard composter for themselves, then friends and finally commercially. Although many were sold, it didn’t compete well in the market place next to less expensive plastic bins. Production stopped.

However, twenty years later world thought has changed. Composting and backyard food production is becoming mainstream. This is a relief for the planet: less waste, less trucking to the landfill and more nutrients returned to the soil. But a concern was vermin.

Could the Speedibin design be the solution? The daughter of the inventors said “Let’s build them again”. Now working with a talented team, the new company Fresh Earth Products has fine-tuned the original Speedibin design to make it sturdier and easier to use.

The family hopes that the safe, easy Speedibin encourages others to discover the wonders of making living soil. We wish you a continuous cornucopia of garden delights!


Image: Fred Francis and original Speedibin

The Back Story

“In 1989, City Farmer was asked by Metro Vancouver to come up with an idea to prevent rats from accessing compost bins. Pest control experts said that the answer was to “build them out”. So a new compost bin had to be invented, with four impenetrable sides, plus a lid and base to prevent entry by rodents.

Inventors came up with plastic, wood and metal bin designs. One excellent metal bin, the “Speedibin”, was created by Fred Francis of Victoria, BC. A small number of his bins were manufactured, but because plastic bins flooded the market at a much lower price, the metal bins didn't survive.

Now Fred's daughter Joyce has resurrected the “Speedibin”. For those who have been visited by a rat or want a very strong bin, this metal composter is a wonderful alternative to plastic.”

- City Farmer News, July 2011