Environment In Mind

Compost bin is one of the greatest thing to have in your garden. It’s a simple way to turn our household waste into nutritious material for plants.

I have a dynamic compost bin. It is a drum type bin that you can turn the contents very easily. Usually, dynamic compost bins are very expensive because they need a strong structure to support the drum turning. Fortunately I found one that doesn’t blow my budget. It’s made of heavy-duty plastic to keep the price down. I was so excited when I found this bin and ordered almost instantly.
After I placed my order, I found some negative reviews about this bins. Most reviews pointed out that the bin is not strong enough to handle what it’s supposed to do. It’s not surprising news given how much it coasted. This definitely fits in the quote of “You get what you paid for”. Since I already ordered the bin, I investigated those negative reviews and attempted to find the workarounds.

It’s been more than a month since I started using this bin. It’s doing a fantastic job so far. My workaround solutions are working well. Here is what I did (and still doing) to overcome the issues reported (and issues I found) about this specific dynamic composter.

1. Read and understood the assembly instruction first - Instructions came in English and one other language I had no clue what that was. The English one were good enough to understand with lots of pictures next to descriptions.
2. Checked all parts in the package for broken / missing parts before assembling - This is for the warranty. You’d want to return the bin if the content is not good enough. Fortunately I all all the parts in a good condition. Ready to assemble.
3. I found a problem in assembly step 11 : Gear cover assembly - the screws in the package weren’t thick enough nor long enough to attach the gear covers. This could cause the whole unit falling apart. I tried one of screws from my husband’s tool box. It’s 5mm thick, 65mm long metal fastener, wider and longer screw than what’s in the package. It worked well. I quickly went to the hardware shop and bought more of this fasteners.
4. Problem with the gear covers again - The gear cover (formed a circle shape) had 8 screw holes to attach to the main unit. The main unit had the same number of screw holes to receive. The positions of those holes didn’t match between the gear cover and the main unit. I ended up picking evenly spaced 4 holes on the gear cover to use (instead of all 8 holes), because there was no way to attach the reminder of 4 holes to the main unit.
5. I accidentally found that the handle could be attached on either side. Whichever the side you choose, there is only one way that the handle is supposed to turn, otherwise you’d damage the unit. The handle has a sign to indicate which way to turn but it’s not obvious unless you look for it closely. I painted the sign with a contrasting colored paint, so that I don’t miss the sign. It’s working on me.
6. Supported the plastic nut holding the center axle. One person reported that the nut came loose and got lost in the compost material. I could see the possibility and it would be hard to fix when it happens. So I supported the nut with some garden wire.
7. Lots of reviews pointed out the weakness of the handle. I could see that too. Turning the heavy drum by one handle could be problematic. One person said that you could attach a bar to connect both side of the drum to make the unit dual handle. Yes, I can see it would be a great solution but it’s out of my capacity of assembly. One review suggested to always stop the handle at the position of 1 o’clock, so that the start of turning gets easier and causes less load on the handle. It’s like a push bike (bicycle), you want to position a pedal at the top when you start pushing, otherwise, too hard to start. So I made a big sign on the unit to tell me where the handle should be stopping. This is surely working well especially when the content gets heavy.
8. Used straps to go around the drum to support the weight of contents, keep the lid closed, and avoid plastic crack. The durability of the plastic unit had been targeted in the reviews often. It’s basically not strong enough against heavy contents. The weight of the contents also causes the lid to open when turning. So I bought elastic straps to go around the unit. I’ve been using it when I turn the drum. I’ll keep them going around the drum once the drum gets heavy.
9. More about the durability of the unit. Placed the unit on the flat surface, in the shade to prevent weathering (even though the manual says place it in the sun for heat. I think the sun in my area (Queensland Australia) does more harm than the good)
10. Checked the legs for possible support - Once the unit gets heavy, you cannot turn the drum without lifting up the legs. I push the drum by one hand as I turn the handle by the other hand to help turning without lifting the legs. If it gets more problematic, I’d use old paves or bricks to weight down the legs.
11. Started with 1/3 full max for better mixing and functioning of the unit - Again, the main issue of this unit is not strong enough. The heavier the contents get, the riskier the unit gets to fall apart. My unit is currently 1/3 full, and it’s working very well. I personally think that the unit can handle more load, but I better monitor and listen to the unit when add more contents.

Overall, I’m happy with this compost bin so far. It’s still early days but I’d say it was a good purchase. I’m hoping the unit to last long. If it does, I’d consider buying another unit. I’ll keep you updated on this as I go.