plastic laundry bins for composting

15 years ago

Quick intro before my question:

First year with a sorta-SFG raised bed and first really foray into growing more than just tomatoes. Interested in composting mostly to decrease the amount of crap my family sends to the landfill each week.

After several days of on-and-off scouring of some of the forums, I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried using tall laundry hampers as bins. I've seen messages from people that have success with the big garbage cans after poking holes in them -- the laundry baskets come with holes, so you'd only need to add drainage at the bottom.

Or perhaps the laundry baskets not able to hold enough?

I have access to pallets and the wire fencing if I were to go that route -- my stumbling block is my husband. He figures that we don't need to do the composting thing for the garden because we are using a soil/manure/mushroom compost mix that he bought a truckload of. I'm looking for something I can do on my own.

Any help would be appreciated.

Gena

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

digdirt2
15 years ago
Or perhaps the laundry baskets not able to hold enough?

That would be my concern. I've just never seen one that would be big enough to get anything really going.

But I will add that many who first scoff at the need to compost often become believers after they see what is produced and the reduction in 'trash' leaving the house. ;) And even his truckload of stuff has to be amended with something to keep it going and growing.

Good luck!

Dave
0
Belgianpup
15 years ago
I keep my 18# bag of cat food in a laundry hamper, and that bag fills it. I don't think it would hold enough for useful composting. (I just measured it: 15x11x19" -- the most it could produce is less than two cubic feet of compost. You would probably fill it up with kitchen waste pretty quickly, once you got into the habit.

One of the simplest ways to compost is to just get about ten feet of welded wire fencing material (2x4" mesh) 3 ft tall, fasten the ends together with three cable ties (zip ties), set it on the ground and start loading it up. (Chicken wire is too soft.) This could produce as much as 21 cubic feet of compost. Cover it in winter.

Sue
0
Related Discussions
Can I make a compost bin out of a large plastic barrel?
Q
Comments (17)
When I found that pic in google, I was also so impressed . Then I thought about all cutting, screwing, begging my husband to help ....:))) and finally I end up with just cutting square foot hole on the side of the barrel, but not in the middle part ; I cut that hole in the top side part, so I could use it not just rotating horizontally, but also keep it vertical for a while. When it is time to rotate, I lay the barrel on the ground and roll it several times and let it sit horizontally. Then several day later I roll it again, or put it vertically. Actually it is not difficult at all. Sorry, I don't have my own picture of the barrel.
...See More
Darn black plastic compost bins...
Q
Comments (28)
I've tried a variety of composting methods over the years. My first was a 3' circle of chicken wire (all I could afford). The side aeartion was nice, but I kept getting the pitchfork tines stuck in the chicken wire. After that, I made a compost garden. That was an 8' octogon raised frame bed with a 2'diameter chicken wire in the middle. I dumped compostable stuff in the chicken wire, never turned it, and let nurients leach into the surrounding soil to feed cucumbers up the chicken wire, tomotos outside that and bell peppers and flowers and the outer ring. Worked well actually. More interesting, I happened to drive past the old house and, 20 years later, the octogon is still there (but with roses)! When I moved, I tried a plastic cylander that you filled up, waited a few weeks, lifted up and moved to the side and refilled from the old pile and with new material. It actually worked OK, but it was a pain to move. I finally build a real double compost bin. 4x4x3'H. I got tired of turning the compost from 1 bin to another and they both ended up being filled. That meant I had to fork everything out of one bin onto the ground, move the 2nd bin into the 1st, and move all the outside stuff into the 2nd. And the rich supply of melon rinds, carrot and potato peels, etc from the kitchen waste was attracting critters. Well, if they were eating the best stuff, it wasn't doing me any good. I decided to re-think the whole process... I started to leave my grass clippings on the lawn (free fertilizer). And I decided that the trees needed the nutrients from the decomposing leaves, so I merely shredded them with the mower and left them in place. That way, they wouldn't blow away, and any blown-in leaves would add to the nutrient pile. But I still had kitchen waste and weeds to compost. So I got an aerated closed tumbler to use for the rich critter-tempting stuff. The built compost bins get all the weeds and old flower stems and such. With an occasional shovel of fertile garden soil, that stuff breaks down eventually. The compost tumbler doesn't make compost worth a darn, but it does hold the kitchen waste nicely until it is too far gone to attract critters. So then it goes onto the old compost bins (turning it in once a month isn't much trouble). The other half of my new system is to get free mulch from the County recycling Center. It is lousy mulch, but only becuase it is way too decomposed for mulch. It does however make great compost after it sits for a year. It is as good as the leaf compost available commercially. I even let all my chicken bones dry out in the basement, pound them into pieces, and toss them in the kitchen waste tumbler to break down (free bonemeal) So the lawn keeps its clippings, the trees keep the fallen leaves, the critters can't get at the tempting kitchen waste, the old compost bins slowly provide some compost with little effort, and the year-old "mulch" is good as soil. I'm actually accumulating more than I can use. Guess where it is going? On the lawn! I have one of those pushable mesh barrels to sprinkle compost over the lawn. Anything that doesn't fall out through the mesh goes back onto the compost bin. :)
...See More
What to do with the plastic can bin?
Q
Comments (5)
I'm with the leaves. I commonly use plastic bags for collection of fallen leaves that I cant see going into the composter. They then are given a little soil--maybe from the compost, some nitrogen fertilizer to speed up the breakdown, maybe some sugar, other ingredients as they come....then placed behind a hedge, out of sight and left to compost down for about a year, when the leaf mold is given to my roses and other plants. Given that the holes will get rid of excess moisture, its an ideal resevoir for what doesn't go into the compost.
...See More
compost bin looks like a worm bin
Q
Comments (5)
I have two large bins (4'X4'X8') As one side fills, I start on the other side. It pretty much is a one year cycle. I turn the pile as best as I can. I have a lot of used coffee grounds and the pile stays pretty hot in the core. I have lots of worms in the pile. They move to the edges as the center heats up. When I start the new side, I take a few shovels of compost with worms and throw it in the new pile as starters. I have kept lots of worms in my piles for many years using this method. When I put the finished product in the garden the worms go with it. They are "red wigglers" and I am not sure what happens to them there, but I always say a small prayer that they survive and flourish as they have done in the pile.
...See More
treeinnj
15 years ago
Gena - Welcome! I use the 33 gal rubbermaid approach. However, if you're asking for other solutions - the other day I saw these 30 gal stand-on-their-own extra heavy duty brown yard "refuse" bags - sold @ the big box & discount stores - anyway the bags "say" "great for composting" - I don't really get it, but it may just be perfect for your current needs - at least until the rest of the family catches the composting bug.

Also, homecomposting will add a lot of diversity to your compost rather than just the manure/mushroom thing. Here's a list of 201+ household ingredients to get you started.

Hope this helps,
All the Best, Tree

Here is a link that might be useful: 201+ Compost ingredients
0
sunnyside1
15 years ago
Yes, Tree is right. I brought home a couple of these bags filled with (the most beautiful) grass clippings from our Public Works Dept. Before I could get the clippings down, the bags went through about three drenching rains and still held together. After I used the clippings, the bags were used as well. They make a wonderful alternative to using newspaper before mulch. I was VERY impressed with them. Why not try composting in them?
Good luck!
Sunny
0
wonderpets
Original Author
15 years ago
I probably should have mentioned that I have several of the baskets on hand, so I was going for the least expensive lazyiest way to get started.

This is one of those "stealth" projects -- where I don't want anyone to really know I'm trying until it's working. And by "working," I mean that I am successfully getting rid of my kitchen scraps without stink or flies or a complicated 57-step process.

If this works out as well as the garden has so far, then I have access to scads of cardboard and pallets at work, so I can build something later on.

I'm most afraid of stink. Will the pile have to have a certain minimum amount of mass to prevent that?
0
treeinnj
15 years ago
Gena - Others have commented in the past that the supposed (bad-rap) "stink" of compost piles really does not have to be a part of the compost process at all (some would even say "shouldn't be a part of it").*(see PPS below)

There is no minimum size to avoid "stink." It is not size-related - it is ratio-related (enough browns mixed in w/the nitrogen; the N is usually the cause of the alleged stink).

So, if your goal is to make "stealth" compost without anyone detecting it from aroma or looks, then you'll do great. I've been doing it in the back of my townhouse in a rubbermaid for almost a year, and no one has noticed.

In addition to getting a good brown/green ratio, adding leaves on top usually stops any fresh aromas that might temporarily exist. I just add the leaves to kill the aromas that the raccoons might pick up on, although I don't.

Also, I have no flies issue whatsoever. Sometimes if I've had the lid on a while and there's tons of N & very little brown, little tiny gnat-like things float out when I open the lid, but a brief amount of fresh air & they disburse. When the cover's off, no insects hover over it (maybe in it, I'm sure, but not over it).

What are the dimensions of the baskets? Even if it's smaller than the supposed min size of 3 feet cube, it'll still work - just eventually b/c it might not be able to heat up well, etc. Truly, my rubbermaid is smaller than 3 feet cube, but it's not tiny by the time you average out the dimensions.

So, if you do something in a "less than ideal" size, just know that it might be slower, that it'll work better if the pieces you put in are smaller, that it'll work better if you have access to & put in high-heat items, e.g. grass clippings, alfalfa, bloodmeal, etc., and that it'll work better the more you turn it (in my opinion) b/c it counteracts the moisture that seems to accumulate quickly in a small bin.

Hope this helps,
All the Best, Tree

PS If it were me, I'd give it a try - flies/odor won't be a problem - getting it to reduce to compost in your timeframe - whatever that is for you personally - will be your biggest challenge. I happen to like challenges, and I like the habit of getting outside to "do" something w/it (add to it or turn it) - so I have fun with it! :)

*PPS In fact, there's a recent thread about the non-issue of the odor of a pile.
0

plastic laundry bins for composting

Comments (6)

digdirt2

Belgianpup

Related Discussions

treeinnj

sunnyside1

wonderpets
Original Author

treeinnj

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

plastic laundry bins for composting

Comments (6)

digdirt2

Belgianpup

Related Discussions

treeinnj

sunnyside1

wonderpetsOriginal Author

treeinnj

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

wonderpets
Original Author