One way to create your own or DIY compost bins is to use old trash cans. This composting method keeps critters and smell out, and the compost close to the house and kitchen for easy disposal of food scraps from your from-scratch-meal-making kitchen. Read on for how we use old trash cans to create rich Black Gold compost for the garden beds.
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Plastic trash cans?!
Yes. Plastic.
If that rubs you wrong, this isn’t the blog post for you.
OR MAYBE IT IS! Maybe you’ve got metal bins you can repurpose into compost bins?
Same method can be applied to those bins too.
What is composting?
Composting is the natural recycling of things that grow such as leaves, fruit and vegetable food scraps, even eggshells.
It is the decomposition of these natural items that creates the perfect environment for beneficial bacteria, fungi, and other organisms to live and break down those natural products over time.
This is the process to create what farmers call “black gold”. The original “reduce, reuse, recycle” system.
Compost makes the absolute best fertilizer for your garden. And since you’ve typically got an abundance of food scraps, why not return them back to the land?
Caveat: there is a way to compost meat and dairy but this is not the blog post for that. That is a method of composting called bokashi and more information can be found here.
How does composting work?
The innumerable organisms needed to decompose food scraps and natural products need four main elements to do their job well: nitrogen, carbon, water, and oxygen.
Consider composting in nature:
As the seasons turn, leaves fall onto the ground layer by layer. Rain, snow, wind happen but rarely are the leaves turned or mixed up, right?
Decomposition can and will still happen without the turning of compost but it will happen at a much slower pace. Just go brush the leaves away from the base of a tree in the woods. Dig down about 2 inches and see how incredibly black that soil is! That’s SOIL; not dirt.
Earth worms and more microbes than we could ever count are hard at work in your compost bins turning food scraps and natural materials into soil for your garden.
What are nitrogen or “greens”?
Nitrogen or greens examples are:
- vegetable and fruit scraps including the skins and even seeds (it’s always fun to see what seed may germinate in your compost pile and sometimes garden bed!)
- fresh grass clippings (I avoid adding weeds with seed heads to my compost by preference).
- coffee grounds (though brown in color, these are heavy in nitrogen and thus, are a “green”).
What are carbon or “browns”?
Carbon or browns examples are:
- leaves (mulched or shredded will be best)
- wood chips or shavings (saw dust isn’t recommended in compost bins due to the anaerobic clumps they can create but using a little should be fine)
- small branches and twigs (also help to create air pockets)
- shredded paper, paper towels, cardboard, newspaper
- stalks such as from corn and sunflowers that have dried out
The 3 Bins Method to composting
In all honesty, DIY compost bins is the only method we have used and have made good compost on our small scale homestead.
We use three trash cans in rotation:
- One being added to (scraps of food with browns to cover)
- One resting/decomposing
- One being used from (AKA compost is ready)
How we acquired our trash cans
Our trash or garbage cans stay outside so they are exposed to sunlight and the elements. Overtime the material begins to fade and crack.
We replaced these trash cans with new ones and used the weathered ones for composting.
How to prepare a used trash can to become a DIY compost bin:
- clean the inside with soapy water (perhaps add a capful of your sanitizer of choice, if you’d like.)
- allow can to dry thoroughly (suggested tip: wash on a sunny day and let can lie on its side in the sunlight to dry)
- use a drill with a 9.13 mm sized bit (or a size not bigger than a no.2 pencil diameter) to add holes to the sides and bottom of the can (we have added holes to the lid but no longer suggest that due to the lid splitting.) Drill a hole every 6 inches, starting at the top of the can under the lip/edge down to about 3 inches from the bottom that sits on the ground. On the bottom, drill holes spaced several inches a part. Try to drill about 10 holes in the bottom for earthworms to get in.
Location, Location, Location
We keep our “adding to” bin close to the back door which leads from our kitchen. This makes moving food scraps from the kitchen to the bins easy to remember to do daily. (In the summer, you will want to take out scraps every single day especially if you live in an area prone to fruit flies.)
The other two bins (resting and using) are located on the southern side of our house where they receive a good amount of sunshine each day all year long.
Sunshine = heat
Heat = decomposition encouragement
The trash cans being black also attracts more sunlight and heat. The worms you want in your DIY compost bins thrive in the heat, but not too hot!
Keep your nitrogens and carbons ratio right, aerate bi-weekly, and make sure there is moisture for the ideal environment for worms and microbes to do all the heavy lifting for decomposition.
If you are wanting to use your homemade compost in about one year’s time, keeping an eye on aerating the bins and watering them is how you will be able to make compost quicker.
Nitrogen to Carbon Ratio
The nitrogen to carbon or greens to browns ratio is up to the composter.
It is my belief after 4 years of creating good compost for my backyard kitchen garden beds that a ratio of:
4:1 carbon to nitrogen is a good ratio.
This means if I dump 1 bowl of food scraps (nitrogen) into the bin, I need to cover it with 4 of the same bowls of browns (carbon). Then give it a light misting with water.
In addition to this ratio, keeping an eye at least weekly on your bins helps you to learn what your DIY compost bins need.
I know that if I see a lot of earthworms in the bins as I am turning the materials, that’s a good sign.
Alternatively, if I do not see many earthworms, I need to consider the elements:
- is it too dry in the bin? Add nitrogen and/or water (but don’t drown it!).
- is it too wet in the bin? Add carbon.
- is it too cold outside right now? Move to direct sun light, aerate, and wait.
- is it too hot outside right now? Move to partial shade, aerate, and wait.
What to avoid in DIY compost bins
- too wet: this will slow down decomposition and cause smelly odors you do not want attracting critters, bugs, and such. ANSWER: aerate and add more carbon or browns.
- too dry: this will slow down decomposition, if not stop it completely. ANSWER: aerate and add more nitrogen/greens.
- too smelly: this means you need more carbons. ANSWER: aerate and add more carbon/browns.
Do DIY compost bins smell or attract mice and rats?
We began composting in the summer of 2021 and have yet to have a mouse problem.
Edit: as I’ve been writing this blog post, I had my first compost bin mouse. He was relocated and more carbon was added. To be noted: this bin’s lid needs replacing badly! It’s split and allows plenty of room for a critter to get into the bin, number 1. Number 2: there was not enough carbon to reduce the food smell that enticed this mouse to come see what’s for dinner.
The goal is to add more carbon every time you add nitrogen to the bin.
This may look like covering the food scraps with leaf mulch, paper shreds, pine wood shavings, bedding from chicken coops like hemp or wood shavings, etc.
Adding the carbons or browns covers the smell of decomposing foods.
Keeping a secured lid on the compost bins is important for keeping out rodents as well.
Can I add dead, diseased, or pest-ridden plants to compost bins?
It’s highly recommended, no to diseased or pest-ridden plants.
Unless you know for sure the plant died naturally (like frost got it), then do not add it to compost.
Here’s why:
In order for compost heat to kill the infection or pests, the temperature needs to be around 150-170 degrees. Most backyard compost bins or piles don’t get that high in heat.
There is a way to expedite compost with biochar, chicken feed, and a tarp but you’ll have to research that method.
For diseased and pest-ridden plants, it’s best to burn those if you have a method for doing so safely.
Why composting means a low to zero waste kitchen
Composting creates a low to zero waste kitchen because it helps eliminate food waste and reduces the creation of methane gases in landfills.
Compost additionally adds the absolute best fertilizer to your garden beds. Better than any you can buy! And compost from your DIY compost bins is FREE.
Composting in other ways
Some people choose to compost in:
- piles
- using pallets to create “bins”
- fencing pieces to shape into cylinders using leaf mulch to create sides and adding scraps in the center
Check out this fantastic blog by Homesteading Family on composting using fencing, pallets, or free standing options.
This 3 bin system isn’t the be-all-end-all of composting, that’s for sure. It’s simply a method we have been utilizing for 4 years now to reduce food waste, smelly garbage, and produce a nice raised bed soil amendment to our garden.
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