Bin Type ?

Have used the large green Plastic compost bins for my composting .... need to get another bin.
I see that many places sell the wooden slatted type and these come in 2 â??formatsâ??....
Slats with gaps between them ...
http://tinyurl.com/3939tmq
or this type without the slats.
http://tinyurl.com/2ufy867
Are both types as good as each other ? .... are they effective composters ... or should I just buy another green plastic 100L bin

The alternative option could be the ECO King model.
http://tinyurl.com/2wubbql

 

Used to be this link John, but it doesn't work any more, so they've probably figured that everyone who wanted one had already asked? and the trickle that was left wasn't worth running the scheme for (or its already a causality of the Spending Review ...)

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/in_your_area.html

 

You make better compost than me, Shiney! I've never managed to get anything out of the little-door-at-the-bottom as my compost has too many big bits in it. The Rats have seen it as an easier starting point for their teeth than a smooth-round-cylinder too :(

But I'm not meaning to knock it, for folk who make half decent compost it is better than lifting the whole Dalek off the pile and sorting it out, and my Daleks came from the subsidised Council scheme - at a time when I had been promising myself that "making a nice smart compost heap is the next job" for 6 months at least!! - so at least they mean that I have a tidy heap

FWIW I work on the basis of two heaps, one maturing, one filling. When the "filling" one is full I lift the Dalek off the "maturing" pile, separate out anything obviously not "done" (usually the top few inches, and sometimes some stuff from around the sides), and then I use the good stuff that is left .

The "not done" stuff goes back into the now-empty bin to have new material piled on top.

This is clearly a lazy way of doing it, so not good advice for newcomers. I probably ought to uncover the "fresh" heap at this point, mix it with the "not done" material, so tha the whole lot is turned and plenty or air introduced, and refill one Daleks full to brim, leave that to mature, and put anything left over into second Dalek and that becomes the "fresh compost" bin.

 

I could add that I have a plastic dalek bin ... with door at bottom .... but have never used that.
I have always found it necessary to turn a bin over every couple of months ... I lift the dalek off.
Move it a few feet to one side, the shovel the stuff back in ... any fully black & rotted I take out at that time.

Sounds like the dalek or the ECO bin (link in original post) may be the best bet.

 

That's sooo disappointing Shiney

"I have too much compost to use daleks."

Yes, me too. I use open-heaps for tasks which produce a "huge-crop" of composting material. But for a bucketful from weeding, or emptying the kitchen bin, we use Daleks.

Harvested the 2-year-heap this Autumn with a 6-tonne JCB and a 3-tonne dumper :gnthb:. From memory we got about 6 dumper loads - which is not bad "for free".

Sadly I couldn't persuade the Sprogs to gather the annual long-grass-cut this year, so it rotted in situ and we will have much less compost in a year or two's time :( Might have to compost the kids instead!