The other day I went to a hardware store to look at the price of compost bins, they cost anywhere from $50-700. I was seriously shocked; it’s just a bin to put my food waste. I decided just to make my own and save tons of money and I have the extra time.
This project cost about $20 and took about 30 minutes, so not to bad.
Items
- Plastic Storage Bin – It also doesn’t matter what size, if you think you’ll have a lot of waste use a large one, not to much use a small one. Smallest I would recommend is 15 gallons. I’d recommend the Sterilite 72 Qt Storage Tote.
- Phillips Head Drill Bit or Screwdriver
- Hammer
- Worms – about 20 worms
- Dirt – I just used some from my backyard, filled the bottom about 2 inches. You can also use potting mix, instead of digging up your yard.
- Water
- Compost – See Below
Directions
- Take all of your materials outside, you don’t want to make a mess in your living room
- Take the lid off of the storage bin, then grab the Philips head and hammer
- You will need to make holes for air to makes its way into the bin, space them about one inch apart of each other. See picture below
- Set the storage bin lid to the side, grab the storage bin and place one of the larger sides on the ground and the opening facing you.
- Grab the Philips head and hammer again, now as you did with the lid, make holes every inch to allow air, then flip and do this to the other large side
- Fill the bin with the dirt & compost
- Add water, just enough to make the dirt damp, don’t let the dirt dry out, make sure it is always moist
- Add worms
- Place the lid on the bin, set outside in the shade or out of the way
Make sure to turn the soil and compost at least once a week, to make sure everything is being eaten and the soil is being freshened.
Compost
- Eggshells
- Lawn Clippings
- Newspaper
- Junk Mail, non-glossy
- Paper
- Fruit & peelings
- Vegetables & peelings
- Coffee grinds with Filter
- Tea leaves with Bag
- Hair
- Paperbags
- Leaves
- Small branches
Don’t Compost
- Citrus
- Glossy Paper
- Oil (coconut, vegetable, olive, car, etc)
- Dairy
- Meat/Seafood
- Bones
- Cardboard
- Soiled Paper Towels/Napkins
- Junk Food
- Candy
- Cat Litter
- Plastic Bags
- Recyclable Material (Glass, Plastic, Etc)
- Alcohol
**When winter comes and if you live in a place where the ground does freeze bring the bin inside! We just keep ours in the basement, it does not smell.**