How to Make a Homemade Compost Bin From a Trash Can

There are hundreds of compost bins for sale online and in stores, but they all share the same two problems: size and price. For those of us with large gardens, most retail compost bins are either too small or too expensive.

Being the frugal gardener that I am, I sought a better way – after all, compost will break down in any number of containers. The stirring mechanisms in retail versions are a great idea, easy to use and speed the breakdown, but are they worth the price?

The zero-cost solution if you have the room, is to make a cold compost pile: throw your table scraps and yard waste in a big pile at the edge of your yard and let it break down. If you don’t want to attract more critters than necessary, don’t add food scraps, just yard waste. This is called cold composting. To get the pile to heat up a little more, surround it with bales of hay which will break down and add additional organic material to your pile. You can also trench compost – dig a trench in a fallow garden bed and add table scraps and yard waste directly into the soil.

The next best solution is to make an inexpensive DIY compost bin from a plastic garbage can (dustbin), available at any hardware store.

What you need to build a homemade compost bin

• Large black plastic trash can
• ½” drill bit with a power drill
• Two bungee cords
• Bricks or wood blocks

Air circulation is critical to composting, so the trash can/compost bin needs holes – without them, the odor will be unbearable and the compost won’t break down correctly. With a 1/2″ drill bit, create 6 evenly spaced holes around the top of the can and 6 evenly spaced holes in the bottom for drainage. The holes in the lid allow rainwater in and air to flow through the pile. Oxygen encourages aerobic bacteria to go to work on your compost, which will keep it odor-free and speed the breakdown.

You’ll also need two bungee cords: one to hold the can’s lid on securely and one to tie the bin to a stationary object (like a porch railing) so it won’t blow away in a storm. Chasing a compost bin across your neighbor’s lawn in a thunderstorm while the can is spilling its ingredients is not a good look for you (not that it happened to me…).

Finally, raise your bin off the ground by placing it on a few bricks (or something similar) so that air can get under your compost and so that it can properly drain through the holes you drilled. If you like, you can place a receptacle under your bin to catch the fluid that drains out. Note that this fluid is not a proper “compost tea” and should not be added directly to your garden.

Congratulations. You now have a DIY compost bin from a simple plastic trash can.

Give your compost a weekly stir

When you want to stir your compost, take the can off the bricks, keep the lid intact with the bungee cords, and give it a few rolls on the lawn. Stir it once a week to get oxygen into the mix to avoid a buildup of bacteria that may make the compost smell foul. An unpleasant odor indicates that either your carbon to nitrogen ratio (brown material to green material) is out of whack, or it’s too wet. Let the pile air out for a day or two and if it’s still smelly, then you have too much green stuff (nitrogen). Add more brown material like shredded dry leaves, shredded cardboard, shredded black and white newspaper chopped, dried corn stalks, or chopped, dried sunflower stalks. Stir the compost after adding the new material and the smell should go away in a day or two.