How to Construct a Money Saving Rotating Compost Bin

by Lucien Beauley
(Manchester, N.H., U.S.A.)

Gardening is becoming more and more popular of late with the economy here in the U.S. and in other parts of the world on the decline. People are going back to the soil and planting their own vegetables to bring their effective income closer to the prior recessive state. They also look for ways to save on the ever increasing cost of chemical fertilizers. This article tries to explain how anyone can build their own composting bin. I have added photo links showing how to construct compost bin below:



Can Fossil Fuel Indirectly Provide The Answer?

Probably the simplest way to compost your organic waste of all types is to construct a horizontal rotating drum that would conveniently and effectively turn your virtually any organic material into usable and crumbly fertilizer. The drum itself could be constructed from wood framing, which is suitable but would not last as long as using a used oil barrel. You just have to cut an access lid to add new material as well as removing the composted finished product.

Since water will have to be added on a regular basis it is not wise to construct the bin of wood material though a portion of the framing would be acceptable. The best all around approach to producing well composted organic material is to purchase a 55 gallon plastic (polyurethane) barrel. They can be purchased used for very little from some local suppliers. Plastic is easier to handle simply because of its weight, cut access door for adding or removal of material.

There is a much simpler approach yet by just constructing your bin in the back yard placing four poles in the ground and wrapping the poles with chicken wire with an opening in front. With this approach it would be very wise to purchase worms from a supplier. They would be very small and would come in a small sealed envelope. I purchased a small package of about 300 about 25 years ago and used them for my first compost pile constructed using chicken wire and it produced real fine composted material. It did not happen overnight. Once the worms begin to grow from the table scraps you supply them they will completely recycle your bin material in a very short time. The more worms, the more material is recycled at a quicker time.

Jim says that all of the above mentioned methods work. The only one I have used is the 4 poles and chicken wire. Some say that the barrel method is faster because of the constant turning, but you do what makes sense to you. Tell us what is the method you are using.