Abstract: A perforated enclosure for reception of material to be composted is divided into a plurality of compartments. A trough is capable of being raised and lowered;between a low level filling station and the top of this enclosure, and then travelling across the top of this enclosure to dispense the material to be composted into the compartments. The trough base includes a plurality of side by side rotors having circumferential vanes with radial cross walls whereby the material to be composted is distributed to the compartments. An auger may be mounted below the perforated enclosure between respective guide rails and may travel therealong to extract compost from the base of each compartment. The auger is moved intermittently by a co-ordinated system of hydraulic rams which connect to the guide rails by gripper means.