We have been composting in these bins. We bought one from Home Depot which is a simple arrangement but the problem is with turning it over. It was hard to turn the compost over with a pitch fork and I decided to make one. So I brought a few pallets, stripped them and nailed them to make this open bin. We use this for grass clippings, stems, leaves and other waste from the yard.
Since the HD composter was full and we needed one more, we decided to make a composter which is easy to turn it over. After some good research I found one here. I found the plastic barrel on craigslist, followed the simple steps with some modifications for the height and made one. It works great! The best part is the internal aeration system. I didn't take any pictures when I was building it! Anyways, I hope this link describes all that is needed.
Apart from grass clippings from the lawn (we sometimes leave it), green & brown leaves we add the kitchen scraps to it which we collect in a little bucket on the counter. Most of the fruit peelings, vegetable trimmings, egg shells (of late we have been saving it for the tomatoes), tea leaves, egg cartons,... all go into the composter. Usually we trim into small pieces so it composts faster.
If it starts smelling (if it's on the counter too long) or to avoid any smell we throw in a piece of charcoal.
