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  • ร—
    Home ยป DIY ยป Simple DIY Home Composting Can (with Composting Guide)

    LAST UPDATED: February 1, 2022 โ€ข FIRST PUBLISHED: April 15, 2016 By Toni Dash 17 Comments

    Simple DIY Home Composting Can (with Composting Guide)

    This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Home composting is easy with this simple DIY home composting can tutorial and guide on how to compost at home. Grow the garden of your dreams using homemade compost! This fun, simple, inexpensive, earth-friendly project is family-friendly, and great for Earth Day!

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    This post is shared as part of Boulder Locavore’s ongoing partnership with Silk, exploring earth-friendly, healthy lifestyles choices and exciting plant-based dietary options.

    gloved hands holding compost from a home composting can

    With Earth Day right around the corner, I’m sharing a project near and dear to my heart: How to Make a Simple Home Composting Can. It’s an inexpensive DIY project, easy to set up and very gratifying as well as great for your garden! Growing a vegetable garden with homemade composte means that your vegetables will grow to be delicious in salads, soups, and other recipes.

    I am fortunate to live in a very environmentally conscious community. Shortly after moving to Boulder they started curbside pick-up for recycling as well as composting. In return for contributing to composting the eco center allows residents to come pick up bags of the final compost for their gardens. I’ll confess, since the compost program can accept any vegetation and since I use compost on my food garden, I generally prefer to make my own since I know what I’ve put in it. Specifically, I don’t put any weeds in the compost as I don’t want my food garden sprouting tons of weeds from any weed seeds!

    DIY Simple Home Composting Can (scraps) and Composting Guide - BoulderLocavore.com

    What is Composting?

    Let’s start at the beginning, what is composting?  Composting is the process of breaking down organic (formerly living) material into a rich soil. Plant matter (leaves and grass clippings) and food scraps are all you need to start composting. For successful composting an equal amount of ‘brown’ and ‘green’ matter need to be used. Examples of brown matter would be leaves, straw (untreated) and newspaper. Green matter would be food scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells and grass clippings. Some people add vegetarian-fed animal manure to their compost. I prefer not to add manure but to incorporate that into my garden beds separately. Also I only use plant scraps in home composting. Adding meat and dairy products are a bit more complicated and I leave that for my curbside compost pick-up.

    DIY Simple Home Composting Can (scraps) and Composting Guide - BoulderLocavore.com

    Home Composting Timetable and Materials

    The rate at which matter breaks down into compost depends on a few simple factors:

    • temperature inside and outside of the bin
    • air flow
    • humidity
    • the ratio of the materials being composted.

    The smaller the size of the matter also can effect the speed it composts as well, I find. Newspaper should be shredded through a shredder before adding to a compost pile. If possible putting leaves through a leaf mulcher is great before adding them too. Once everything is combined it will be rotated periodically to encourage the breakdown of the contents. I’ll cover that more in a bit.

    Many of us don’t have the space for a full blown compost pile. I have the perfect solution that works and is inexpensive! You’ll need a plastic garbage can with a lid, a drill with a large bit and 1-2 cinder blocks. Holes are drilled into the garbage can to allow air flow, including the bottom, and it sits on the cinder blocks to stay off the ground. It’s a great family project to purchase and create a home compost bin!

    DIY Simple Home Composting Can (scraps) and Composting Guide - BoulderLocavore.com

    I also find it handy to have a small bin in which to put kitchen compost scraps. Realistically I do not trot out to the compost bin each time I prepare food. A simple milk carton is a perfect size to keep underneath the kitchen sink for this. It holds 1-2 days of scraps so does not smell and can be easily taken out to dump in the compost can. Using a box cutter (adults only please!) cut along the top seam of a half-gallon milk carton (just below the slanted area); remove and discard the top. Your scrap container is now ready!

    Composting Supplies

    32-gallon Plastic Garbage Can with Lid

    Drill with large diameter bit (3/8 inch)

    2 Cinder Blocks

    Optional: Auger Drill Bit (for rotating the compost)

    How to Make a Home Composting Can

    Equip the drill with the large drill bit. Drill holes uniformly all over the can, including the bottom. This allows for air flow to the compost.

    hand holding a drill that\'s making holes in the side of a home composting container
    person holding a drill that\'s making holes into the bottom of a homemade composting can

    Sit the prepared compost can on top of the two cinder blocks to allow air flow to the bottom of the can.

    DIY compost can sitting on cinder blocks to allow for drainage and air circulation

    How to Make Compost at Home:

    • Add equal parts of brown and green material (refer to examples above) into the home composting can.
    gloved hands adding leaves to a homemade compost can
    DIY Simple Home Composting Can (scraps) and Composting Guide - BoulderLocavore.com

    Turning the compost is critical to the breakdown of the material. To turn the contents of the can either use an auger bit on a drill (see below) or place the can on its side (with lid secured on top) on the ground and roll it back and forth. Turning the compost should happen a few times a week.

    power drill with an auger bit attached to it and a home composting can behind it
    turning compost with an auger drill in a home composting can

    For more details on home composting, check these resources:

    Home Composting Made Easy, Cornell Composting FAQs, Earth Easy: Composting

    This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Stacie says

      May 04, 2016 at 11:29 am

      So excited to make this home composting can! Can you tell me if you put holes in the lid as well? Wondering if this would allow the right amount of moisture in. Thanks so much!

      Reply
      • Toni Dash says

        May 04, 2016 at 12:31 pm

        Great question Stacie! I did not add holes to the lid, just the sides and bottom for air flow. Hope that helps!

        Reply
    2. Joni Mason says

      April 23, 2016 at 5:44 pm

      I live in an apartment and can only do container gardening and I was beginning to think I couldn’t find a solution to having a compost can for my tiny space. Thank you for this post!

      Reply
    3. michele soyer says

      April 18, 2016 at 11:26 am

      I have made so many composts bins over the years and to tell the truth many have been very poor.. I am definately going to give this idea a try.. Thank you!

      Reply
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    Welcome! Iโ€™m Toni Dash. Iโ€™m a Certified Nutrition Coach and the professional writer/blogger, photographer, recipe developer and creator of Boulder Locavoreยฎ. Iโ€™m so glad you are here!

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