Since I’ve mentioned composting here and there in my posts, I thought I should maybe share exactly how I compost. I don’t have any special equipment, and my total monetary outlay for my bin was about $6.
Back in April, around the time I started working on reducing my food waste, I got inspired to try composting. I heard great things about worm bins, but they seemed a bit complicated, and I didn’t want to have to buy a bunch of worms! Happily, one of my commenters pointed me to some very simple instructions for a plain old wormless compost bin, so I decided to give it a try.
Following the instructions on You Grow Girl, I made my own bin from a Rubbermaid container. Basically, you just need to cut a bunch of air holes in the lid of the bin, and several drainage holes in the bottom. The site said to use a knife, but I’m not nearly patient enough for that! I got out the drill and made quick work of that….a few minutes, and I was done.
I started it off with some leaves and some fruit and vegetable scraps, which I soaked with water, and I’ve been adding produce scraps, tea bags, egg shells, hair clippings, and sometimes some paper ever since. Aside from adding organic material to the bin, all I have to do is turn the compost with a shovel every couple of weeks(although I sometimes forget about it and leave it longer than that!).
I’ve been using the bin since April, and it’s only just now getting full(and I even put a whole pumpkin in there). I’ll probably buy one more bin to use and I’ll just let this one rest until spring. Hopefully at that point I can empty it out and use the compost to fertilize the beds in the front of my house.
The bin is out in our backyard, which isn’t the most convenient place in the world. To make things easier, I keep a small plastic bin on my deck, which is right outside of my kitchen, and whenever I have some compostable kitchen waste, I just open the door and throw it into the little bin. And when the bin gets full, Joshua, a.k.a. Compost Boy, comes and empties it into the big bin in our backyard.
Composting has greatly reduced the amount of trash that comes out of our house, and it make our trash less stinky. Before I started composting, I often had to take out a bag of trash that was only half full simply because it smelled so bad. Now the only smelly things in the trash are meat-related items, which I usually just put into a small bag and take out right away.
Of course, cutting back on our food waste has certainly contributed to the reduction in trash, but composting has played a very large part. Even the most faithful leftover eater is going to have some food scraps(no one is going to eat tea bags and banana peels), and it’s nice to have an environmentally friendly way of disposing of these inedible items.
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wow, i didn’t realize it was that easy. thanks for the inspiration!
We have a compost bin in our backyard as well and I keep an ice cream container on my kitchen bench for the foodscraps. When the lid is on the container it doesn’t smell at all, even if the things in there have already started growing fur!
I find it’s nice and handy and I only have to clean it out into the compost bin every 2-3 days.
That’s a good idea, Franci. I’ll have to keep that in mind during the summer, when an outdoor bin attracts fruit flies.
Nat, no problem! Good luck with the composting!
I’ve been trying to convince the hubby this is a good idea. Now that I see how simple it can be, I’m really sold! Thanks! And thanks for stopping by my blog occasionally!
Kristen:
Do NOT buy another comnpost bin … AA Co gives them away for FREE … now that’s frugal. We also keep an empty large coffee container with lid in the kitchen to accumulate scraps – no smell. See me at church for the scoop on the county bin.
Oh, sweet! I’ll definitely ask you about that! lol Free is the best price.
This is the single best thing i have ever seen!!! I have been wanting to start composting but was intimidated, now I am going to start tomorrow.
It’s been eating at me pretty bad that I don’t compost, but the only room I have available is on the balcony at my apartment–and we aren’t allowed to put anything on out balcony! I’ve been trying to feel better by just using as much up of the food as I possibly can.
-JSC
Jessica, they do make compost bins that can be used indoors(somehow they make them so they don’t smell). I know that people keep worm bins inside too with nary a problem…I guess the worms keep the smell down. So, maybe some research on the internet is in order! lol
I know Colin from The No Impact Man kept(keeps?) a worm bin in his kitchen.
Love it! We might give this a try as a way to waste less food and to grow our own compost. No sense buying the stuff if it can just make itself!
I have had a worm bin on my ebay watch list for a long time, but cringe at spending the money. This is a great idea. I do have a question. Does the temp outside matter? Is this something I can start outside now in the winter? I live in NJ – today the temp is 40. Nights down into the 30′s and even had upper 20′s.
Barbara, this is my first winter composting, but I’ve read that the freezing/thawing cycle(I’m in MD, so our climate is similar to yours)actually helps the decomposition process. So yeah…go ahead and start now!
I know you can’t keep a worm bin outdoors when it’s freezing, but a regular compost bin should be more than fine.
Hi Kristen,
Good to see you have the composting well organised. Have you considered composting the other food waste?
Bokashi Bin, Green Cone devices are able to compost meat, fish, fat and bone. There is a cost to this especially with the continual use of bran in the Bokashi. Green Cone may be more economic. It is an outdoor device requiring animal proof resilience.
What about community food waste collection? This is an emerging trend in the UK.
We kept a worm bin for about a year before we moved – it was in our basement and never smelled at all!
I can’t wait to get my hands on worms again once we’re in our own house!
Hello. Thanks for the wonderful post on how to make a cheap compost bin. I am just wondering how big is your bin that you used to start off with? I plan on making one soon. Does the size matter or no? So everything pretty much can go in there except protein.
I don’t honestly know how big it was! It’s almost the largest size that they come in. I’d say the lid is 2 feet by 4 feet?
Interesting coincidence – I thought of the same thing last year. I do it a little differently. I cut out the bottom of the container, and drilled largish holes all over the side. I have two: one for new inputs, one for older stuff that doesn’t need to be turned as much. I use kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy because I don’t want to attract rats) and shredded office paper.
From the looks of yours, I expect it to be stinky from too many greens (food) relative to browns (paper, leaves). Is it? I have to add a lot of shredded paper to mine to keep it from getting goopy and stinky.
For all the new-ish composters reading this. There’s nothing wrong with goopy and stinky per se. A goopy and stinky input pile (ie, one with a disproportionate amount of greens) will turn into compost. It will take longer than a pile that has the ideal proportions of greens and browns. To learn more, I recommend the “soil, compost, and mulch” forum of The Garden Web. It’s populated by nice people willing to answer any question.
Oh wow, I found this post and am I glad you do compost. I had mentioned it on my one other post. I have a piece of snow fence set in a circular config., hubby put in a few stakes to keep the sides up. We use neighbors leaves, clods from the garden, any grass raked up, our waste etc. We also have another spot with a couple of pallets we got for free and compost kitty litter and other meat bases refuse when it occurs. That compost goes on the plants we do not eat from. Thus nothing wasted, everybody and thing fed. hehehe. I am so thankful I found you.
I got the worms for my worm bin free. I have a neighbor who keeps llamas. worms are naturally attracted to their poop pile. I asked them for a coffee can full of poop. That can probably contained 100′s if not 100′s of worms. I’m sure that horses, goats, sheep, any livestock would work. If you don’t know anybody in the neighborhood take a ride in the country. I’ve learned that to be really frugal you have to be bold and ask for things that you want. when you see a horse in a pasture drive up to the house ask for some poop. the worst that can happen is they say no. For any one interested in worm bins I highly recommend Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary applehoff. I checked it out at the library.
We have been composting about two years now. We have quite a few fruit trees in our backyard. My husband started using our grass clipping but we noticed it wasn’t enough to we started asking our neighbors for their grass clippings so we can help our pile grow. A good friend of mine keeps chickens and whenever our pile starts to get cold we add chicken poop. Oh and you also have to make sure to turn the compost pile because if you lose the heat, you pretty much have to go back to square one again.
Do you have any problems with animals getting into your compost bin? I have wanted to start a compost pile, but we already have a problem with raccoons getting into our garbage, so I don’t want to have another critter-attracting bin in the backyard!