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Using wheelie bin as compost bin
GardenAmateur
Posts: 75
My council is starting to charge for garden waste collection and I would like to turn my bin into a compost bin , could it be as simple as drilling a few holes in and sticking waste in? Would it be better just to buy a purpose built one. I would probably mess up anything slightly more complicated than sticking a few holes in so don T want to mess around putting hatches etc in
0
Posts
I use mine as a water butt
In the sticks near Peterborough
If you want to be independent from the council collections I would suggest making proper compost heaps or using proper bins. If you want to use the wheelie bin in some way you could use it as a 'collection' bin. You can throw in all your large prunings / leaves etc and every couple of weeks just turn it out onto the lawn and run the lawn mower over it to chop everything up before adding the choppings to the compost heap. Chopped stuff composts much quicker.
I certainly wouldn't start just drilling holes in your wheelie bin without clearing it with your LA first. Our wheelie bins remain the property of the council and are regarded as being on loan to the householder, who is required to leave them for the next householder when they move. They may want garden waste bins back if you don't pay the premium for collection.
A proper compost bin would be better.
Contact the council to come and take the wheelie bin away if it's taking up space. One of my neighbours (with wall to wall concrete) did just that when they were introduced here. You could even ask if they have a scheme where you can swap it for a compost bin.
Be aware that you might generate garden waste that you don’t want in your compost though - weeds and their seeds mostly.
Unwanted or unused bins are a pain we also don't have a lot of space to store the darn fugly things. I pity the people who have to have three or more with no room or choice.
I hope your council will take it away for you, or release you from having to keep it.
Apology for mini wheelie bin rant.
We recently bought two of the Blackwall brand of daleks and they seem a bit rubbish and thin compared to the simple daleks our local council used to provide at a discounted price. They are through a council scheme in partnership provided by a company.
I know you get what you pay for, but just thought it worth a mention. We will see if they last.
Happy composting
We've got the same here charges for emptying your green bin, so we use ours now for the same usage but put in it thick bags and hubby is taking the garden rubbish down the local tip.