Heat & Air

When you add organic matter, the compost bin heats up as all the microscopic organisms get to work. Adding all those browns (egg boxes, toilet roll tubes, scrunched up newspaper, sticks, shredded paper) increases the airflow around the mixture, which makes it heat up and so speeds up the composting process.

Turning compost to introduce more air in will make it turn into compost quicker, but getting the 50/50 browns and greens mix is effective too. If you want to get as much air as possible into the mix, but find it physically difficult to turn your compost, you can just add holes through your compost by plunging an aerator or broom handle down into the mixture to create numerous channels of air.

  

  

When will my compost be ready?

Composting can take 12-18 months without adding any air into the mixture at all, but as little as 12 weeks if you increase the airflow.

Remember that in a standard 'cool' composting heap or a bin like a Dalek, the composting process will slow, and even stop altogether, in colder temperatures. There are other options that allow you to keep composting all year round, but we'll look at these later.


Next page: Moisture