The rotating metal drum composters, on a frame off the ground seem like a good way to exclude rats.
Having said that, my compost bins, daleks on the ground, have regular visits from rats. They use the rat traps as playthings, and I'm not going to use poison because of the disastrous effect on barn owls. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/hazards-solutions/rodenticides/
What I have noticed is that rats coming and going in the compost are helping to produce a finer faster compost.
For me personally, it's left me feeling quite differently about rats visiting compost - excluding rats completely from your garden is impossible and unnecessary, and my experience so far is that rats visiting the compost is both unproblematic and helpful for the composting process...
I just wonder if @matthewcaminer would set himself up for any bother from E. Health if he does have a conventional bin, albeit taking any of the measures mentioned into account, and rats appear. Being 'advised' isn't the same as being 'ordered', but perhaps someone has knowledge of the implications.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Rats carry disease and are generally undesirable in your garden and your compost. I live next to grazing land with a feed store and hay/straw store as well. There are many rats but we see only dead ones because we use the traditional method of control: cats. I have two and neighbours have cats as well. The rats are not a problem and while I have sympathy with those who also objects to cats in the garden, a moggy is a better option.
'Carry disease' I can understand as a concern, though I also question this as a practical concern - I have never personally met anyone suffering from rat vector diseases.
...but I do wonder about 'generally undesirable' - if I pause and consider, what is it that I'm personally thinking and feeling? I know that I can be concerned about damage to cables or chewed bags, for example, or worried about a damaging infestation in our home. But I also wonder whether I'm not being unconsciously driven by an aversion to wildness, and by my greater emotional comfort with domesticated animals.
For me, I suspect I will eventually resolve this dilemma by getting a barrel composter, but in a way, that seems a shame - falling into an approach which gives an unrealistic impression of being 'safe' 'clean' 'contained' rather than accepting the reality that life and ecology is connected, messy, ambiguous.
Thanks for the many and varied replies. I would add that the red kites are often seen swooping down for lunch and we haven't seen so many rats of late. QED?
There is also the Hotbin:- https://www.hotbincomposting.com/ It seems to be something that could do the job and it also takes cooked food and other waste. Comes in various sizes as well.
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
I think you will find that many people with a medical background have seen all too many rat connected diseases.
Indeed. Hideous, and there's apparently been some increase in Weil's over the last year or so - possibly due to more people being active outdoors, due to the pandemic, and therefore coming into contact with animals generally. Problems with refuse collection, for the same reason, may also have added to an increase in rat activity.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have a Hotbin and love it. It is sealed, but only made of polystyrene, so there if "explosion of rats" and they do pose a genuine threat (which I can imagine) they could chew through it with ease. It's also about 4ft tall and harder to check the back and the base to see if there has been ingress. It's also expensive, where a black rubbish bin with clips costs about a tenner.
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Being 'advised' isn't the same as being 'ordered', but perhaps someone has knowledge of the implications.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I found this video helpful - the idea that he takes responsibility for his place in the ecology of the land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x3FEwfqek
https://www.hotbincomposting.com/
It seems to be something that could do the job and it also takes cooked food and other waste. Comes in various sizes as well.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I like that video ... it seems eminently sensible.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.