How to Compost with a Plastic Trash Can

Whether you're motivated by the thought of reducing the amount of trash you send to the landfill, the prospect of turning trash into nutrient rich soil, or a combination of the two, composting can be surprisingly simple, and just about the most rewarding thing you could do with a stack of rotting bananas! Follow these instructions to create an inexpensive and easy to maintain compost bin from a simple plastic trash can.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A plastic trash can
• A shovel
• Green and brown organic material

1. 

   CHOOSE A SPOT FOR YOUR COMPOST BIN: Some factors to consider are:
   Select a spot outdoors that will be close enough to allow you to conveniently empty your kitchen scraps.
   Allow some distance from your home and outdoor socializing spaces. If you maintain your compost properly, smell and flies should not be a problem. However, particularly if this is your first compost bin, you may want to maintain enough distance from your house to ensure that any trial and error you experience does not adversely affect your home environment.
   You will also need to periodically turn your compost, so keep it in a place where you have room to maneuver with a shovel.
   Finally, a shady spot will make it easier to maintain moisture levels in your compost pile.

2. 

   CREATE HOLES FOR PROPER AIR FLOW: Now, prepare your plastic trash can for the compost by inserting many small air-holes. You can create the holes using a power drill, or simply use a hammer to drive a nail through the can. Create holes on the bottom, sides, and lid of the plastic trash can, about two inches apart. Then, arrange a couple pieces of rock or plywood to side under the trash can, allowing it to sit a couple inches elevated from the ground. This will allow excess moisture to escape through the bottom of the can.

3. 

   ADD ORGANIC MATTER: Now you are ready to begin filling your compost bin with nutrient rich materials. The secret to great compost is to find the right balance between green and brown materials. Greens are nitrogen-rich and include your kitchen scraps, grass cuttings and green leaves plucked from the garden. Browns are rich in carbon and include dry leaves, newspaper scraps, shredded mail, and sawdust. You’ll generally need more browns than greens to maintain the right moisture balance. If your compost is stinky, add more browns. You may find it helpful to gather a reserve of brown at the side of your compost bin (you can simply keep it in a heap, or make a circular pen by tying together the ends of a piece of chicken wire to make a cylinder container. Since your kitchen scraps will typically contain mostly greens, you can mix them with your stored reserves of browns whenever you empty your kitchen scraps into the compost bin.

4. 

   TURN COMPOST REGULARLY: At least twice a month, use a shovel to give the bin a good turning. The contents should remain moist, so if your bin is getting dry, add some rainwater or simply run the hose over it to restore the moisture balance.

5. 

   PUT YOUR COMPOST TO USE: As materials continue to break down, your compost will compact. You may find that it takes only a month or so to fill the can halfway, but several months to fill the other half! In general, a 40 gallon trash can should be expected to hold about four to five months worth of food scraps for a family of four. Once you have decided that your bin is as full as you care to make it, close the lid, and disturb it only for the occasional turning and moisture check. When the content are completely broken down (which can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months depending on the compost composition and your climate, the compost is ready to be put to use. Add it to your soil, or pot up a few lucky plants directly in the rich compost soil.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many different ways to compost. Some compost piles are broken down by red worms which thrive in the warm, moist decomposing pile. It is not advisable to add worms to your plastic trash can compost bin, as the plastic trash can will not maintain the optimal temperature and moisture levels to support their survival. Instead, naturally occurring microorganisms will do a fine job of turning your table scraps into the secret behind next year's prize-winning tomato.
• A few things that you should NOT put in your compost include: meat or dairy (it will get stinky); diseased plants (they will spread); pet or human manure (this can spread disease); clippings from black walnut trees (this can stifle some plants, especially tomatoes)