I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and noticed
it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side. I had been
thinking about making a similar modification to my two Sankey compost bins
which are pretty much air-tight.

Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing, how many
holes would be best?

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

Martin Sykes wrote:
I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and noticed
it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side. I had been
thinking about making a similar modification to my two Sankey compost bins
which are pretty much air-tight.

Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing, how many
holes would be best?


I wouldn't have thought it was worth bothering with. I doubt it will
improve heap aeration much if at all, and will only really contribute to
drying the heap out. I'd leave them as they are.

Which council supplied the bin & how did you apply for it?
thanks kenty
"bigboard" wrote in message
...
Martin Sykes wrote:
I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and noticed
it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side. I had been
thinking about making a similar modification to my two Sankey compost
bins
which are pretty much air-tight.

Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing, how
many
holes would be best?


I wouldn't have thought it was worth bothering with. I doubt it will
improve heap aeration much if at all, and will only really contribute to
drying the heap out. I'd leave them as they are.

"Kenty ;-)" wrote in message
...
Which council supplied the bin & how did you apply for it?
thanks kenty

Vale Royal in Cheshire. it was an incentive to return their recycling
questionaire promptly. The first 1000 replies got a free compost bin.

Apparrently WRAP ( The waste resources action program is giveing away 250000
bins this year and the info is somewhere on their site ( link below ) but I
had a quick look and couldn't find it.

http://www.wrap.org.uk

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

"Kenty ;-)" wrote in message
...
Which council supplied the bin & how did you apply for it?
thanks kenty

Did a quick search and also found this link offering free compost bins. I
don't know anything about them though although as far as I can see, the
worst that would happen is you'd end up on a mailing list.

http://www.compost-it.org.uk/scheme/compost_bin.htm

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

Just noticed, it's for Lancashire only.

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

"Martin Sykes" wrote in message
...
: Just noticed, it's for Lancashire only.
:
: --
: Martin & Anna Sykes
: ( Remove x's when replying )
: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm
:
I believe a lot of councils have done this at one time or another. Ours -
Richmond upon Thames - certainly has. I think they now charge us 10 UKP.

K

: I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and
: noticed it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side.
: I had been thinking about making a similar modification to my two
: Sankey compost bins which are pretty much air-tight.
:
: Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing,
: how many holes would be best?

My bins are airtight too but I don't think it's a good idea as the only way
it can rot properly is if it has air

In article , Martin Sykes
writes
I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and noticed
it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side. I had been
thinking about making a similar modification to my two Sankey compost bins
which are pretty much air-tight.

Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing, how many
holes would be best?

It makes sense to turn your compost - to get air to it. So it makes
sense to put holes in your bin.
Make the holes at regular intervals, in a spiral, down the bin, one on
either side. You can then shove a rod through each pair to create air
passages through the whole heap. If you make the holes larger than the
rods, you can also wiggle the rods to give a bit of a mixing action to
the compost
--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

Snip
Martin Sykes wrote:
I've just got my new free compost bin from the local council and
noticed
it's got a couple of what appear to be air holes in the side. I had
been
thinking about making a similar modification to my two Sankey compost
bins
which are pretty much air-tight.

Is it worth doing or will it cause problems? If it is worth doing, how
many
holes would be best?
Snip

I have two plastic compost bins which were holeless. After reading comments
on this page I decided to conduct an experiment.
I heated a metal rod and burnt a spiral (this way the hole perimeters are
well sealed and will not split) of holes around one of the bins.
Since then I have tried to treat both bins equally to see which composted
best. To be honest there seems insufficient difference to measure.
Cheers
John T