Do I Have Enough Waste For a HOTBIN?Thursday, 15 February 2018 | HOTBIN Composting Will I have enough waste to keep the HOTBIN hot composting?HOTBIN Mk.2 & Mini compost aerobically and at temperatures between 40-60°C hot composting is 32 times faster than traditional cold composting. Hot composting also allows you to compost a wider variety of waste such as cooked food, bones and weeds as at these higher temperatures pathogens and weeds seeds are destroyed. How can you achieve hot composting temperatures?To maintain temperatures of 40-60°C you will need to feed the HOTBIN a minimum amount of waste each week, this varies depending on which model of HOTBIN you are operating.
This volume can be made up of both kitchen and garden waste. The better the mix of waste the more effectively the HOTBIN will work. Please note. Don't wait until you have a full caddy of waste before you feed you HOTBIN, feed you bin whatever waste you have available every couple of days.
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Small | Medium | Large | |
Household Size | 1-2 people | 3-5 People 2 small caddies, about 5kg (10 litres) of food waste a week | 5-10 people 1 large caddy 5 kg (15-30 litres) of food waste every 2 days. |
Garden Size
Grass (Lawn) | None or very small.
Less than two boxes per week | Medium garden generating cuttings, pruning’s and leaves etc. 2-4 boxes of grass a week | Large garden generating cutting, pruning’s, many autumn leaves, enough tree/woody plants to possibly warrant a shredder. A clear up fills 1m3 pallet type bin. More than 4 boxes of grass a week |
Current ‘cold’ compost use | Not enough waste to fill 1 plastic cone composter. | Need at least 2-3 plastic cone composters which always seem full. | Probably 2-3 large (1m3/each) pallet/compost heaps. |
HOTBIN Units | You are unlikely to have enough waste to keep the HOTBIN hot. You will still be able to compost quicker with the HOTBIN than in a traditional cold composter, but you may struggle to maintain constant hot composting temperatures. | Likely to need 1 HOTBIN. The HOTBIN is designed for a medium household (3-5) people with a small to medium sized garden. | Likely to need 2 HOTBINs to cope with the large volume of waste. |
If you are unsure how much waste you generate in volume terms it may help to know that the average 4 person household with a medium garden generates roughly 250kg of food waste and 300-400kg of green garden waste per year. This equals approximately 500-1000 litres of waste in total per year.
If you are looking to compost both kitchen and garden waste in the HOTBIN we would advise measuring the volume of kitchen waste rather than your ‘garden waste’ volumes. During winter most people have less garden waste and so you will need the volume of kitchen waste to keep the HOTBIN running at hot composting temperatures.
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