Extra! Extra! The new compost bin is here!

And now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the new compost bin! (Or maybe it was just me that was waiting for this moment. And Agus, who with his super sense of smell, who was suffering terribly with the previous bin. Especially during breakfast out on our patio, when I had to burn incense so we could eat outside.)

Isn’t it gorgeous??!!

You don’t need to answer that. I know it is. I love it! I’m so happy with the new bin!

So here’s the deal, in case you just feel the need to build one yourself, or call up your local carpenter to have one built for you…

It’s 55 cm. wide by 55 cm. deep and 1 meter tall. The bottom drawer to hold the finished compost is 18 cm. high. Isn’t the drawer super cute? (I know, I know, of course it is!)

The air holes in the sides are 10 mm. in diameter, and are drilled only in the sides of the main bin, but not the drawer. They’re located every 13 cm. horizontally and 5 cm. vertically. This isn’t exactly what I originally specified (I asked for every 13 cm. all around, both vertically and horizontally, in the main bin), but I think it worked out better in the end. This way, there is a bit more air coming in.

And the holes are small enough that the compost won’t ooze out through the sides, like it did with my old bin, which was pretty gross. (Our housekeeper looked extremely pleased to see the  new bin when she arrived this afternoon. I think I was the only one who liked my old compost bin.)

There are, of course, holes in the bottom of the main bin, above the drawer, so the finished compost can fall down into the drawer, to be removed for gardening.

These holes are 15 mm. in diameter, every 2.5 cm. I had originally asked for them to be 10 mm. in diameter, every 13 cm. as in the sides, but when we went to pick up the bin I realized that I had totally underestimated both the size of the hole and the quantity of holes, so we asked them to re-do that part. When we dumped the contents of our old bin into the new one, some little earwigs fell down into the drawer, so I think the size is perfect for fluffy, finished compost. If it’s not, you’ll be the first to hear.

Oh, and there’s a lid. It’s pretty simple, and has two hinges on the backside.

So once I had taken all the photos, and we had moved it in its final resting place on our patio, I started by clearing the ivy off the wall around the bin and tossing it into the bottom. I know the compost in our previous bin is not 100% ready to go and wanted to provide a little bed on the base of the bin so it can finish decomposing before it falls down into the drawer. This may or may not have been necessary.

Then we dumped the contents of the old bin into the new one, and I was so happy to see that they only took up about 1/3 of the new bin! Tons of room for new organic waste. One of my concerns with our previous bin was that it was always almost full. It would rain a bit, and the contents would compact, but then it would fill right back up again between kitchen clippings and swept leaves from the ivy.

See how much extra space there is? After that, I cut up ivy trimmings that Agus had cut down last Sunday and left on our patio while we were waiting for the new bin to be ready. Unfortunately, once I had cut up about half the ivy, it filled up the entire bin. The good thing is that it won’t take long to break down, and then I can add the rest of it, which is waiting on our deck to be cut into pieces and composted.

Can you tell how happy I am with the new bin?

I just took a break to go out and check it out. The leaves had settled a bit since the morning, and I cut up some more ivy to fill it up again. Now I’d say there’s only 1/3 left of the total clippings. Yeah!

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

What does everyone else out there do with organic waste? Home compost? Community compost? Organic recycling with your trash service?