Topic: Plastic compost bins?

[timelady]

My silly newbie question o' the month:
I started a compost pile on my patch (was just going to do a couple 'on the groun' piles and turn them) but since I'm still digging and clearing I now want to move it. My piles are small, I'm just a single person after all so not much to compost from home yet. So I was thinking I have some of those plastic storage box/crate things and could set out 2 or 3 at the allotment for compost. Would this work, basically just wondered if there'd be a problem with the plastic? Would make it a little easier for me for the first 6 months or so until I build a proper compost area (which will be where there are 6' high brambles right now). I think the dalek type compost bins are plastic but just wanted to ask.

Tina.

[dandelion]

It's better to build one bigger pile rather than several smaller ones. The compost will heat up and break down  much quicker. But you don 't need a bin: in fact the compost will be easier to turn if it's just a pile. I'm still waiting for my free Dalek from the council (been waiting since July!). I just make one gigantic heap of compost and cover it with tarpaulin. I started one last autumn; I will use the half rotted compost in May to fill the planting holes for my squashes.

[artichoke]

I made a big temporary compost loose pile in a patch of nettles, and when I came to move it the nettles had gone and the bare ground underneath was crumbly, clear, soft, wonderful. I agree that one biggish pile is better than lots of little ones.

[timelady]

thanks. A couple friends have said having 2 piles is good - eventually you turn one into the other to start 'newer' stuff in one. But you're right, since I have so little compost anyway I probably want to generate as much heat as possibly in one pile. Hadn't thought of that. I'm so new to this!  :P

I'm fine with an open pile, except that right now it's tricky because I'm not sure where to put it. So I want to move it, possibly more than once, while I dig and reclaim the plot from brambles. I had one pile, realised I then needed to dig in that patch, so now I'm not composting at all yet because I'll just need to move it again later. Much of this is down to the fact that little of the patch is dug, and will be used for planting as I dig. So if I can chuck a crate under a bramble bush for now, then move it in a month's time when I chop down that bramble bush, all the better.  ;D There is actually a rusting, falling-in corrugated iron compost area the previous person had that I can see deep in the bramble. I'll get to it someday.

Tina.

[kt.]

For a compost heap/pile to work properly it should be a minimum of 1x1x1metre to generate enough heat. It may work if the waste is in plastic bags but I cant really be sure on small quantity's. :-\

[Georgie]

Hi Timelady.  I don't think using crates will work very well as you are likely to end up with a smelly sludge.  The best compost heaps - be they open or dalek types - are set on soil so that the necessary insects and beneficial organisms can get in and the excess water can escape.  Then again, if you used them upside down I think that could work but it would take a long time for such small amounts to turn into the black gold.

G x

[Amazin]

TL, though I agree with everyone on the preference for one big heap, I don't see your plastic bins as a huge problem, as I think what you're really looking for is a temporary storage solution. Just keep giving the contents a turn or, better still, empty them out and re-fill, to get rid of the slime build-up. Then when you've decided on a permanent location, you won't have wasted your supply.

[Blue Bird]

Hi T - I have used old dustbins with lids and hole drilled in to allow air to circulate for the 4 years in the garden and they have been fine it just takes longer to break down I empty one each spring and they fill up with the other one ( so that way they are turn 1 per year.

Two bins were just right for the house waste from two of us and then I added my own homemade wormery

hope this helps