How To Make a Cheap Compost Bin

Composting Helps Reuse Food Scraps and Yard Debris, Less in Landfills


I see a lot of questions out on the web about how to build a compost pile or what is the best compost bin. I had the same questions three years ago when I built mine so I'd like to share what I built and why I think it is well worth the price.

There are certainly a lot of compost bins you can spend hundreds of dollars but why do that when you can make one for almost nothing? Think you can't do it? It isn't as hard as you think. What I built is simple and doesn't require any major tools. I have seen really nice inexpensive wood structures but I didn't have a saw so I opted for a more simple design. This bin cost less than $40.

Tools Needed:

• Mallet
• Shovel
• Gloves
• Weed puller

Materials Needed: 

• Chicken wire, deer fencing or other small wire mesh stuff
• Four stakes that are typically used for chicken wire type fencing
• Zip Ties

Steps: 

1. Find a spot that gets sun most of the day and perferrably close to the door you would exit to dump scraps. (This helps motivate you to actually dump scraps!)
2. I layed the poles on the ground about where I wanted them, my bin is about 3 feet x 4 feet
3. Now you drive the poles into the ground at all four corners with the mallet. My ground was very dry and hard to get the pole into so I got some water and used the weed puller to poke a deep hole, then stuck the pole in and hammered it in with the mallet. You may need a small piece of wood to protect the mallet from the metal pole. 
4. Secure the wire mesh fencing to one post with the zip ties.
5. Wrap the fencing around the three other poles, securing it with the zip ties on each pole. 
6. Don't zip tie the whole thing together, leave the last piece loose, it will act like a door of sorts. 
7. I fashioned a ring from the left over zip ties and secured the fencing by looping the zip tie over the pole

Now you are ready to add brown and green materials and watch it compost! Make sure you always cover green materials like kitchen scraps with brown material so it doesn't smell. Keep the pile moist and just continue to layer brown and green materials, they will break down and give you dark, nutrient rich soil to use in your landscape. Don't be surprised if this takes some time, just turn the pile from time to time and you will have compost before you know it.

I love this bin, it was inexpensive, easy to put together and three years later, is in just about the same shape it was when I made it. I've used compost from it and am thrilled to not have to buy it from the store and all my leaves in the fall are put back to good use instead of being bagged and thrown away.

Here are some photos of what I bought and stages of the bin. If you have a bin, homemade or not or make one based on this post, please comment!