I tried to put it back together before I took the photos, and the pieces would not fit. Maybe if one put it together in the beginning and then used like some stronger tape or crazy glue, the pieces would not come to the point in which they cannot go back together. But, if you have to struggle with glue and tape, why not just buy the once piece construction to begin with? EM would not look as nice with a big piece of tape, and I am not even sure that would work. One would need to put the tape on before the plastic began to change shape. In the current state I don't think tape would help. Compost has a lot of heat and as it expands with the heat there is pressured placed upon the unit. It might work better as a storage unit for only dead leaves instead as a composter. But, if one is getting serious about composting you need more than one unit. The first bin is for your active composting, as you are starting the process. Then you want to move to a finishing bin in which you let it stay put until it finishes. Afterwards you need a "finished compost" bin to store "ready to go" compost so you have easy access when you need to use it. If you store the finished compost in a tub with a bottom, it won't keep well. It needs to drain off back into the ground. I want something I can remove whole thing by myself without any help. The round bin is easy to pull off completely, as long as it does not have a bottom screen. I don't know what "tool" if any would be used to put the segments together. It's a snap system in which there are little tabs that you line up into little grooves. That is actually one of the better units, I have seen them with three segmented body pieces instead of two. Those segments end up lying around the yard like garden junk, unused. The unneeded bottom screen doesn't come off easily. There are plastic bolts. That would require a screwdriver. I don't know if they will come off easily or break, but they do not look easy and you cannot turn them with your hand. I am against the bottom screen concept. On the plus side the door is working fine. The lid keeps raccoons out. But, you have to learn to turn it correctly or it's hard to get off. The Eco bin has a better designed lid, that is easier to removed, but a worse fitting door.I once asked a friend to drop an apple core in the EM bin and she said she could not get the lid off. It just takes practice. You have to turn it like a child proof pill bottle cap. If you buy a compost bin, you want it to last as long as possible. I hope that the designs of future bins will take these things into consideration.

dalton thanks for the pics. I have been talking to my husband about making a bin. When I saw your pallets I knew that was the bin for me. Maybe because I can get the pallets free and it does not look hard to do. Swanz that is a very nice bin my hats off to you. I tried to do that once and my daughter just laughed at the finished product and my family threw it out. Oh well so much for building things.

A few more thoughts: A compost pile made with fresh manure will run hot and will not have worms in it to begin with. Decomposition is done by a wide variety of microbes and insects at higher temps. Worms only inhabit cool piles. The 'worms' that affect animals are different species entirely from earthworms and one should not assume that medications for one will affect the other. They might, they might not. Finally, vet drugs (and human ones too for that matter) undergo a battery of tests in order to be registered for sale in the US. This includes internal metabolism, where and how much of the original compound is excreted, and how fast it breaks down after that. So there is at least some attention paid to that issue. The dilution effect and the general probability of breakdown causes me to not worry about vet medications in manure. I am much more concerned about the persistent herbicides in the hay they ate because there is actual evidence of it harming gardens.

I know it takes a little while for it to start really cooking and that once it does, if I add anything to it, I'm starting all over again, right? Because you won't be able to turn the pile, just fill the bin as you get materials ... keep topping it off with grass clippings, dead leaves and such, keeping a reasonable balance of "wet green" versus "dry un-green" stuff. End with a layer of dried leaves and pack them down in the fall. Let it sit until when you look about 6-8 inches down it's looking like dark crumbly stuff. If you aren't turning it and watering it, it takes longer to compost but it still gets there. By next spring you should have the center core of that bin as a nice finished compost. Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap Wire Compost Bin: Cold composting method