Does anyone use a Hotbin Composter?

[shelly]

Hi there,

We have been looking into hot composting recently as we produce more kitchen waste, chicken poo, allotment/garden waste and guinea pig bedding for our 2 traditional pallet bins to cope with. They are overflowing and take forever to rot down – I have 3 little children, 2 allotments and work 4 days a week so cannot dedicate much time to turning my heaps!

We need something faster and which won’t involve taking so many weekly trips, carting bins of composting material up to the plot (my car is not looking or smelling very good these days!)

After stumbling across the Hotbin composter, I was wondering if anyone has used one successfully? Having a neat, vermin proof bin near the back door which turns our waste into usable compost in a shorter time frame would be ideal and the advertising blurb certainly makes them sound like a good solution but the price tag is pretty high and so I would be very curious to find out what others think of them.
Any comments, good or bad about your experiences using a Hotbin would be greatly appreciated!

Kindest regards and abundance to you all, Shelly x

[charles]

Shelly, Steph replied to your email question (to her) about hotbins last week:

“I bought one because I want to compost food waste and needed something that wouldn’t attract rats. It is brilliant for that but I wouldn’t have bought one for non-food waste because they are so expensive. If you want to compost cooked food waste as well as the rest of the composting material then they are ideal.

There are methods of hot composting using homemade bins which could be worth researching.

Have you tried those plastic daleks? Also, check with your local council – sometimes they have special offers on for compost bins including the snazzy more speedy composters.

Good luck

Steph”

You did not acknowledge this so maybe did not receive it?

[shelly]

Hi Charles,

Thanks for putting Steph’s reply on here – I hadn’t seen it yet and from what Steph’s written it does sound like it may be worth trying . We’ll carry on the research regarding other hot composting methods and keep an eye out for a second hand Hotbin

Kindest regards, Shelly

[Rhys]

Shelly

Have you thought of a shredder for your two pallet heaps? That is certainly one way of speeding things up in the bins you currently have. Maybe your fellow allotmenters would consider a joint purchase to keep costs down?

[Freed]

Hi Shelley
We had a Hotbin composter last year. It works very well if you want quick, rough, compost good for mulching etc. If you want fine crumbly compost the slow method is preferable. It’s worth having both.
I’m not sure you need the expensive woodchip that the seller recommends. We used our own for a while then tried without. The result is a bit wet and sticky but heats up quickly and steams. Our mix may not be quite right but I shall work on it.
It works very well until the point where you need to stop filling it and allow it to rot down. Then it can go a bit messy. It also gets lots of worms in it. Not sure how as the bin has a fairly tight-fitting lid and door. This is not a bad thing though as they contribute to the decomposition of the ingredients.
Bearing all these points in mind, I would recommend the Hotbin but have normal composting alongside to supplement it. We have benefitted from the quick mulch material. It is very easy to empty with the removable flap at the front. Bit tight to remove initially but you soon get the hang of it.
Hope this is helpful.

[Author]

Posts