Building a Compost Bin

My favorite project so far is our Compost bin. We throw our kitchen scraps and yard waste into it and will use the finished compost for our vegetable garden. We chose to build a 3-bin system to handle the volume of material. We chose to build it out of cedar because it is naturally resistant to rot. It costs a little more to use cedar, but it will last longer and look better.

We built the 3-bin system shown on the University of Missouri website and the PDF instructions can be downloaded HERE. The instructions are very easy to follow. I did make a few changes such as adding a lid and using 2x2s to hold the slats from falling into the bin. The whole project only took about 2 hours.

My material list was:

Lumber-

4 - 2"x4"x12'

3 - 2"x4"x10'

2 - 2"x6"x8'

3 - 2"x2"x8'

6 - 1"x6"x8'

25'x36" 1/2" fencing

1 box of 2.5" wood screws

1 box of 1" U-nails(attach fencing)

To build the lid(optional):

2 - 4'x8' plywood

6 hinges

1/4" bolts for hinges

 Cheryl watching me struggle and taking a picture before she helps

Almost in place

Finished product with removable slats installed and leveled.

5 Reasons We Compost

1. Reduce garbage waste

    - We started composting about 3 weeks ago. Since then we have filled our kitchen garbage bag about   half what we used to. We didn't realize how many scraps we were throwing away, such as apple cores, egg shells, coffee grounds, and other small vegetable pieces leftover from preparing meals.

2. Create organic fertilizer for the garden

    - We're planning on building a rather large vegetable garden this year. The compost will provide nutrients and improve the soil quality, without using chemical products.

3. Reuse yard waste

   - The dead leaves and grass clippings are reused to create compost. Many people throw them away in plastic bags and put them on the curbside for the garbage truck to pick it up. Instead, we chose to compost so we can reuse the waste to our benefit.

4. Save money

    - We did spend money to build our compost bin but it will last a long time. We will save money by not having to buy fertilizer for our garden and other plants around our yard. Also, since we've noticed such a big reduction in our weekly garbage waste, we are considering changing our garbage pickup to once a month. This will be a cheaper service than having weekly pickup. 

5. Only the cool kids compost!

    - Thanks to the to trend of "Going Green," composting is becoming a cool thing to do. Everyone is being encouraged to do it and major cities like Seattle and San Francisco are either making it mandatory or making it an option. People are learning it isn't that difficult to put scraps in a different bin every day.

Author: Cheryl