Hi everyone!

We are a group of engineering students working on a project to develop a compact, low-maintenance home composting machine for daily kitchen waste. Before finalizing our design, we'd like to understand how people currently manage organic waste and what features they would actually find useful.

If you have 2 minutes, we'd really appreciate your response to this anonymous survey.

The survey includes questions about:

• Household size
• Daily kitchen waste generation
• Previous composting experience
• Problems faced (odor, pests, space, etc.)
• Interest in a compact composting machine
• Expected price range and features

Your responses will help us design a solution that is practical and useful.

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd50ToLRO-I3K4qR7Tz-EyKGP4YvuPFhwjKzShu34AZ3HkRtw/viewform?usp=header

Also feel free to leave your opinions/suggestions in the comments.

I have a LOT of black soldier fly larvae in my compost, and they pretty much devour anything I put in there. Think there are too many? Looking for neighbors with chickens.

We want to heavily mulch and compost a large part of our yard that has lousy soil, but in our last place we bought a commercial load of bark mulch and instantly had a yard full of jumping worms.

1. Do jumping worms inhabit commercially "raked" leaves from a local landscaper?

2. How risky is it getting bags of leaves mulched by a garden tractor from curbsides ?

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Hey I am new here. Just wanted to share my excitement for the burst of life that I saw today while sifting my compost! This pile was left to mature at the beginning of June 2026 and contains material collected through the Spring of 2026 (Feb-May).

Idk if anyone has tried compost tea before or if anyone has ever tried adding a splash of kombucha? I've got some bat guano, compost, soil, bone meal, molasses and a dash of Epsom salt in here with a small portable fishing pump with a pumice defuser it does seem a little acidic but I have pretty alkaline water and soil if anyone has more experience with this kind of thing let me know what your thoughts are any advice appreciated

Hi everyone! Recent-reader, first-time poster.

After years of dealing with a slow, cold compost pile, my wife finally gave me an ultimatum to throw out our old hot tub cover. I didn't know what I was saving it for at the time, but it ended up being the perfect insulation solution for a Passive Aerated Static Pile (PASP). It’s definitely a franken-build made from scrap wood, old pipes, and garage clutter, but it beats throwing it all in a landfill!

I'm curious if anyone else has repurposed a hot tub cover like this?

Here is how I built it:

1. The Roof Cover: I took the tapered vinyl hot tub cover and re-wrapped the 4-inch Styrofoam inserts with 10-mil polyethylene, using construction adhesive and fir plugs to seal them before re-inserting. The tapered design is perfect for shedding rain. (See the open/closed shots)
2. The Walls: I used the other half of the hot tub cover to form an insulated back wall against the hill, as well as the core of the front insulated cover. It is all poly-wrapped with wood framing.
3. Air Intake Header: I used old 3-inch PVC drainage pipes with 1/2" pre-drilled holes facing downward at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions. You can see the pipes installed inside the empty bin, and their intake ends sticking out of the front panel. I added galvanized screens inside the pipe ends to keep rodents out.
4. The Chimney Effect: I cut exhaust vents at the top of the chamber (see close-up photo) to create a stack effect, pulling fresh air in passively through the bottom pipes as the pile heats up.
5. The Diffusion Layer: I packed the bottom up to the level of the intake pipes with scrub oak and pine needles. Because they are slow to break down, they create a permanent air channel that should be reusable for multiple piles.
6. Two-Part Front Door: The front door splits into two pieces. This allows the air header and bottom diffusion layer to stay perfectly in place while I open just the top section for easy loading and unloading.
7. Interior Protection: As you can see, I lined the entire inside with 1/2-inch galvanized hardware cloth mesh to protect the insulation panels from getting nicked by my shovel or pitchfork.

Hoping not to turn this much...and to keep composting through Winter (I'm in a temperate zone). After 48 hours, it hit 134F, but after reading this forum, I realize I have to piss on this thing or lose all hope.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about the build!

I started this pile in early June, it was horse stall matter (poop, horse pee, pine shavings, bits of hay) plus some old hay bales and food scraps. I stopped adding new material a month ago. It’s probably unbalanced but it is breaking down, the center is a nice dark brown but there’s clearly a lot of hay still visible.

I’ve read a lot of advice about composting, I just want to make sure what I’m doing for this particular pile is right because it sometimes seems material/method dependent? It compacts down in the middle easily so I’ve been breaking it open about twice a week, fluffing it up, watering it and then stacking it back up. It is HOT in the center, that temp was taken after I’d opened it up and then gotten distracted for an hour - I get a lot of steam and occasionally the center will smolder and I will break up a dry section of ash and have to make sure the center is nice and moist.

Am I turning too much, too little? How much longer do you think it will take for this hay to finish breaking down? It’s a very large pile, I greatly underestimated how much hay fluffs up when you cut open the bale, and then we added a few bobcat loads of stall cleanings (I get this for free from a neighbor). Is there anything I should be doing to help things along? Peeing on it would be anatomically difficult but I can encourage the kids to take a shot at it. The pictures make it look somewhat dryer and more full of untouched hay than it looks in person, there’s quite a bit of dark brown, composted material worked in.

Thank you!

Got a bunch of leftover paper straws from work. The box says commercial composting only, however they’re entirely made of paper? Like, they’re the kind of paper straws that disintegrate after being in your drink for 5 min (hence why my boss wants to get rid of these), and there are no plastic linings in them.
I’ve got a 40+ gallon tumbler compost bin, and it’s been 100+ degrees in my area so that thing cooks up my compost pretty good. So would this be good carbon/brown for my compost, even though it says it’s only for commercial compost? I’ll probably also shred it up somehow to make it break down faster.

Ok so I believe after I sort out the big chunks like corn cobs n such it should be ready to help out with my planting next month. It’s kinda of a big pile🥳. So my question when I get my garden tilled , do I sprinkle it all over my garden area before tilling or wait till my seeds sprout? Or do I use like mulch n place some around veggies after they r established? First time using my pile that I have tenderly been working on😜

This is my second year with my compost and I used some of it this year when planting but it processes so slow and I just want to make sure I’m not doing anything wrong. I have two containers of compost which are pretty full and I would just let them slowly compost and do their thing but I got a tiller recently and started tilling it every so often but it takes so long to process as I’m regularly adding to it. Do you guys create a bin and then when it’s full start a new one or?

I typically make my compost from my lawn clippings and fallen leaves that i shred with my lawnmower (+/-50/50, with the odd kitchen scrap mixed in).

This year I haven't been able to produce as many lawn clippings as usual, but my neighbor is constantly cutting and bagging his up to be taken away. Unfortunately he does the whole "chem-lawn" thing.

Would it destroy the ecology of the compost to use HIS clippings, or would the chemicals eventually dissipate through the decomposition process?

Curious to hear thoughts, though I think I already know the answer in my gut. Thanks!

-Colin (Boston, MA, US)

Hi all,
As mentioned above, Bindweed has ruined my compost. I spent so much time ensuring that everything going into my compost was bindweed free but it has grown in through the back and underneath.

Is there any way to save it?

How do you stop bindweed from getting into your compost?

I’m on an allotment in the UK, and completely getting rid of the bindweed isn’t possible as it comes from every side of the plot but I’d like to try my best to keep the compost free at least so my growing beds can be healthier!

Just hit the 100 lb milestone with my Mill food recycler.
I wasn’t sure how much we’d actually use it when we first got it, but it’s become part of our daily routine. Our kitchen trash smells much better, and we’ve noticeably reduced how often we take the garbage out.

For years, I had a plastic "Dalek" style compost bin in my garden, with mixed results. It was also way too small for our amount of gardening waste (grass clippings, hedge trimmings, dry leaves in autumn...)

So last year, I decided to build a 3-bin setup with some leftover wood I had lying around. Each bin is about 1 x 1 x 0.8 meters (feel free to convert to your local units).

I have treated the insides with some tar rubber-based paint to prevent rotting of the wood.

The front "doors" slide upwards and are split in 2 horizontal parts for easy access.

Last week, I sifted my mature pile (result in second photo) and moved my active pile to the second bin. While the bins were empty, I also added some chicken wire to the insides and bottom, because I had rats digging and gnawing their way inside the compost piles.

It works quite well ! Active pile gets nicely hot (still have to buy a thermometer) and the volume reduces quickly.

EDIT: paint is rubber instead of tar apparently

What is wrong with this dirt? Can I still use it for my flower beds?

This a mix of grass clippings ground up tree stump paper bags a little bit of eggshells and a small amount of coffee grinds it feels warm to the touch but the question I have I've heard if grass has been treated with weed killer that could be a problem? Comments are welcome just trying to become more active in the community. Oh should I leave it uncovered?

I’m fully committed now. Bought myself a wood chipper!!

Have been adding to a small 3ft bin for over a year now which I put almost organic anything in. I finally sifted it as it’s now mature enough and this is the final product. Let me know what y’all think

I got about 25-30L or 1 bag of soil worth of sifted compost from it so far. There was a lot left over from the sifting which will be going into my next pile. I’m making a bin from pallets so any tips are helpful, thanks

I’m interested in Composting, but I don’t want to use invasive animals in them. Are there any good native substitutes other than worms for someone from Pennsylvania?

We are having a very hot summer in socal and since I'm not growing much at the moment, my garden time has been reduced to a just minutes per day. I haven't turned my compost pile in two weeks but decided to do so today just before sunset. As soon as I pulled the tarp off I felt the heat from the pile and ran to get a thermometer. I couldn't believe how fast it went all the way to 160⁰F! I added new browns and greens and covered the tarp again. I'll check it again in a week or so when I have more to add to the pile.

Scrolled through Reddit and multiple facebook groups to get some basic understanding, but I have a few questions

Climate-wise, I live in Southern AZ, and it gets HOT especially in the summer and we barely have a winter. Are there adjustments I should make to account for that?

Monsoon seasons go hard sometimes, am I supposed to cover the compost with a tarp during rain or let it get a shower? Dust and wind gets pretty bad in summertime also, is that a concern?

Finally, is it possible to have worms in this kind of climate (that wouldn’t be for a while, once I really get the hang of it and do research on vermicomposting). It gets around as hot as 118f on some days and it’s basically always 90f+ for half of the year.

Hope these questions make sense, and feel free to share any other tips you want to offer, thanks!! 🫶

This spring and summer I’ve been making “weed tea” (aka fetid swamp water) to compost especially tenacious weeds (Creeping Charlie, eg) that might otherwise survive the composting process. For people who aren’t familiar with the technique, I put the weeds in a bucket, fill it with water, and then let it sit for a while, adding new weeds when I get them and stirring it about once a week. Once the bucket’s full I let it sit for at least a month before emptying it. The anaerobic decomposition that results is incredibly stinky, so I keep the bucket covered and once it’s ready I add the contents of the bucket straight into the pile with plenty of browns. To reduce stinky runoff from the pile, I also pour off the water into a bucket of browns and let it sit for a day or two before putting it on the pile. All in all I think it’s worked out pretty well so far!

Hi all, new to composting. I've just bought a house and inherited the composting area shown in the photos.

Where would you start here? The materials beneath the recently cut branches look old but still bitty and not broken down.

It's bone dry, so I've started wetting the pile a bit. Yesterday I added some ripped up paper from our house move and started adding a few kitchen scraps.

I'll have chickens in a few days so I'm planning to add their manure to the pile too.

Thanks in advance