Do you really need a bin composter ?

The most common composter is compost bin. You can build it with wood, wire or buy a plastic one.  Compost bin is great for hiding your composting heap from animals, flies and neighbors. A compost bin can retain some heat so good for running a hot compost inside. 

If you live in an apartment, a middle-sized storage box (30cm*40cm* 30cm) works too if you follow the ratio of carbon: nitrogen 3: 1 by volume, layer them as the Indore Method, and wait for three months.   

Bin is nice for hiding your composting pile but make it hard to be turned

 

Pros:

1. Looks neat.

2. It helps retain the heat, control the flies, and hide the pile from the animals.

Cons:

1. A bin is not necessary but can be costly. Turning the mass inside may not be as easy in a bin as in the open air. If you build wooden boxes, build two. When you turn the compost, move one pile to the other box.  Most compost bin have capacity more than 300L to be self-insulate. They take spaces, if you have two, they take more spaces. If you use a compost bin, you need to start your pile big, which means store and scavenge ingredients and put them in all at once. 

2. A compost bin is bulky. 

3. Wooden boxes takes time to build. 

4. Plastic composter bins don’t have bottoms. If you compost on a balcony, the leaching might damage the pavement. The solution is to place a wooden shipping pallet on the floor and trays to trap the excess liquid.

Many composter bin are bottomless, the liquid dripping from composting pile may damage your pavement, use a wooden shipping pallet on the bottom and plate to trap the excess liquid