Do I Need to Keep Adding Bulking Agent?
Yes. You should mix enough bulking agent and shredded paper with your waste to aid aeration. However, woodchips shouldn’t be used as a base layer, so please do not tip the entire contents of the bag into the HOTBIN to get it started.
FYI. Bulking Agent is just a fancy term for a chipped woody material or mulch.
The HOTBIN requires bulking agent to keep the bin aerated and the bacteria fed with oxygen. The structure of the bulking agent is such that it creates air pockets in the waste to allow oxygen to flow in and around keeping bacteria composting aerobically and keeping their anaerobic cousins at bay!
As a rough guideline we recommend that you add an additional fifth of bulking agent to whatever quantity of waste you are adding. So if you add 5 handfuls of veg peelings into the HOTBIN be sure to add 1 handful of bulking agent. You can read more on ratios here https://www.hotbincomposting.com/blog/how-much-bulking-agent-and-shredded-paper-to-add.html, if you are adding lots of wet material such as grass which can become matted, you may wish to add a little more or if you are adding lots of dry woody material you may wish to add a little less, every HOTBIN is different due to the types of waste being added but the ratios advised are a good starting point.