Xref: kermit uk.d-i-y:356368 uk.rec.gardening:197778

David W.E. Roberts wrote:
X-posting. Yes, I know I am a bad person :-)

I was just about to order a couple of plastic compost bins from the
council (or at least, the firm that does a discount deal via the
council) when my eyes alighted on a white plastic 1cu metre bag which
was used to deliver sand. I have another one somewhere as well.

Now, with a stout post driven down through each inside corner, a few
drainage holes in the bottom, and the plastic stapled to the stakes, I
should have two nice (well glaring mucky white) containers in which
to pile lawn mowings, prunings, weeds, old container compost etc.

AFAIKT these should be significantly larger than the 330l bins at £16
a pop (plus £4 delivery in total which makes the bins effectivley £18
delivered to me).

Not as pretty, and would need a decent cover to keep moist/dry but
perhaps an effecient use of resources?

These bag things are supposed to bio-degrade, so only a solution for
a year or so.

The challenge now is to get 4 stout stakes which will not rot quickly
for under £4 each (which may not be as easy as it first seems, having
seen the prices they charge in the sheds).

So:

(1) any drawbacks to this cunning plan apart from the hideous
whiteness? I do plan to make holes to allow drainage and ingress of
earthworms.

I would almost suggest cutting a large hole in the bottom of them. We had
to put our (open bottomed) composter on a slabbed path and whilst it did
decompose, it was nowhere near as fast as when it was on soil before which
is expected. I'm not sure whether the holes would be sufficient (though I
don't know the size of the holes you're planning) - cutting a large hole in
the base of it (ie. practically the whole bottom) would allow better
drainage and worm migration. Also, we had a right pain emptying our
composter and in the end just lifted it up and it all fell out. Much easier
to deal with then.

David