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Cheap Compost Bins For The Home
Composting is an easy way to practice good stewardship of the earth and control garbage odors inside your home. It is one of the lowest hanging fruits in the sustainability, carbon sequestration conversation, as well as a simple way to build up the carbon banks of the earth.
In this article, we'll discuss the basics of composting, and introduce you to a few different ways to compost, followed by links to products that you might find useful. Later in this article we'll discuss what can be composted easily, and what should be kept separate from your compost. For the sake of simplicity, we will focus on cool composting and composting with worms. Hot composting, ie creating a compost environment that gives off so much heat during the decomposition process that it will literally steam on a cold morning is the fastest way to convert organic matter into compost. It's also a little bit more sophisticated than digging a hole in the ground and filling it with potato skins. So we'll save that for another article.
Every socially conscious kitchen ought to have a re-sealable container near the sink for collecting organic waste. While your prep your food, dump your peelings and egg shells and onion skins directly into this container, and when it is full, bring it to your compost area. This takes very little effort once you establish the routine, and the pay-off is good compost. What if you live in an apartment, or in an urban area, as more than half of all humans do? Will composting be more of a hassle than a reward? Possibly. Your compost bin will attract bugs as well as a plethora of micro-organisms. For beginners, you don't want this in your kitchen itself, though there are counter-top vermiculture composting bins on the market. The ideal place is a back yard or shared green space where composting is allowed. Egg shells, veggie peelings, the tops of carrots and the ends of lettuce, apple cores, banana peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, and the like are good biomass to compost. Avoid citrus. Absolutely no proteins or fats, like bacon grease or left over fried chicken. These will rot differently than veggie matter and will attract more attention than you want, especially from rodents.
You can buy a bin that suits your needs (see links below) or build your own. A classic DIY composting bin is a large RubberMaid tote container with holes the width of a pencil diameter drilled regularly around the sides (for aeration). With some shredded newspaper and mail-order worms, you can make an accelerated composting environment and harvest worm casings which are ounce for ounce the most valuable soil additive you can buy, even more so than petroleum based fertilizers like 10-10-10. This kind of bin can work well on a porch or a balcony, but if worms are being used, temperature and sun exposure must be taken into consideration. Worms need temperate, shady areas to thrive. Places with cold winters will not see much activity in outdoor composting situations, but there are ways to plan for this. The goal should be to create the best environment that is cost-effective for you. If you find that you can only compost half the year, hey, that's better than nothing!
Another method for DIY composting is to dig a hole in the ground, fill it, cover it, and forget about it for a couple months. Variations on the theme include building up a bed with rail-ties or fallen logs. Wild animals will be attracted to the smell of your compost, so be sure to cover fresh peelings with dirt or leaves. The ideal compost pile is not too wet and not too dry. A good rule of thumb is that it should be moist enough to feel moist, but not so moist that water comes out when you squeeze a handful. Balance is important. You want to have equal parts green material (like kitchen scraps) and brown material (leaves and mulch). Keep in mind, coffee grounds (which tend to be a large portion of the average Joe's kitchen waste output) counts as a GREEN material.
When you get further along, testing the Ph of your compost might become necessary. For now, take the plunge and start thinking where you can set up your system! Composting is a rewarding way to channel your waste into something useful. We can't say enough about these days.
About the Author
Jade has been cooking ever since she picked up a fork from the tabletop as a child. To learn more about cheap compost bins go make your own compost bin
