Prudent and Practical

3 years ago I tried to build a compost bin out of 4×4′s and 2×4′s – big mistake!  I only made one panel because it ended up being so heavy so I gave up on the idea.  That following year D and I finished installing our 40 foot long retaining wall and we had quite a few pallets sitting in our driveway.  These were something that our hired dump truck would not take away.  About this time we had slowly started thinking more “green”.  I wanted a compost bin now and had talked D into one.

Basically we made two attached topless cubes using 9 pallets.  We had some snow fence, so we stapled that to all pallets to keep the compost better contained, but I have seen some pallet-compost bins without the snow fence and they’re doing just fine. All pallets were screwed together except the front pallets and bottom pallets.  We attached the front pallets with some twine so we can easily pull them off and flip the compost.  We just left the bottom pallets unattached – you may opt to not even have a bottom; we just put them there because we had extra pallets.

Here are a couple of the photos!  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

As requested, here are the tools needed:

• 9 pallets
• All weather screws – we used 12
• Drill
• Fencing (snow, geogrid) – if using
• Stapler – to attach fencing if using

Where to find pallets:

• Big home improvement stores (Lowe’s, Menard’s, Home Depot, etc.)
• Grocery stores
• Warehouses
• Shipping / transporting companies
• Electronic stores (Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, etc.)
• Subdivisions/where homes are being built
• Craigslist
• Put out a “wanted” listing in your local newspaper
• The Wooden Pallet Recycling Exchange

Remember to talk to a manager and also find out if you can have them for free.  Some places may charge you for them since it cost them money.

Now that you have your compost bins, what do you do with them?  Read the next article in composting to find out!