Composting in an Urban Setting

" Can I compost with snow in the ground? Do I have enough waste? Can I control pests? Can I truly aspire to live a healthy life by recycling waste and compost at home?" 

The HOTBIN has been in the market for over 10 years, and through the years we have collected many customer testimonials that answer many of these questions.

The following are three extracts of our collection of testimonials, that are relevant to today’s topics. At HOTBIN, we hope that reading their experiences can help us put to rest some of your concerns and provide you with a few ‘how-to’ tools.

1. Ben and his wife wanted to support their drive for a healthy lifestyle by recycling their waste and composting more at home. After considering composting systems which required a lot of space, the couple settled on the HOTBIN composting system which was more sympathetic to their small urban garden in both space and function with the sealed design reducing the risk of attracting vermin.
What do the household of two compost to keep their heap going? The couple has been recycling vegetable and fruit peelings, teabags, eggshells, grass, hedge clippings, weeds, and even end of season tomato plants. Occasionally, they would ask their neighbors for grass cuttings which would send the HOTBIN temperature soaring up to 140˚F with steam piping out of the top vent. “The compost has had positive effects when used on the garden with the hedges and clematis all doing really well and the compost has also improved the organic material in what was very inert new-build-estate soil.” Read complete article

2. Jane Green… “ Dreading the idea of having food waste sitting on the curbside rotting away in the summer and attracting unwanted animals, I decided to look for a better solution." Jane purchased her HOTBIN in 2013 and found the experience ‘easy to set up and easy to use.' What does she put in her HOTBIN? All her shredded documents go in, food waste including super moist cucumbers, and a good amount of her garden waste. She chops it all up into small pieces to aid the bin’s digestive system. Her tip: “With two years of use behind me, I can safely say that getting the mix right is important!" Read complete article.

3. Henry Schmidt… “I am able to compost even during last winter’s coldest days. Composting drastically reduces waste added to our weekly garbage bins." You can kick-start your HOTBIN to 140°f in the autumn and winter by carefully adding boiling water into the HDPE plastic bottle provided with the HOTBIN and bury or cover it with 10-20 centimeters of new ‘easy to compost’ waste. Wait 4-6 hours before re-checking." Schmidt adds, “an additional benefit noticed by my family is a drastic reduction in the amount of waste we put into our garbage bins each week.” Read complete article