Super Composter Tester Update – October

Our tester Paul has been busy filling his Super Composter with a mixture of materials from general garden waste from his smallholding, to household scraps, coffee grounds and sourdough starters from the kitchen.

After just a couple of weeks of filling his bin with this wide variety of waste it reached a temperature of 54 C, however, just days later the temperature dropped dramatically due to gaps forming between the side panels of the test bin. This could have been due to the ground being uneven or the quick rise in temperature. This is great feedback and it will be used to determine if the next prototype has additional hooks.

During mid June Paul found the amount of waste he was adding to the 1000L model was increasing, he has a smallholding based on several acres and a large polytunnel, and in a matter of days the bin was full, with every new quantity of waste added he added our Compost Activator which promotes and boosts the formation of colloidal humus which improve improves plant growth when the final compost is eventually added to the soil.

One week after the bin was filled to the brim a third of the volume had been reduced, which is fairly speedy given the cooler Northumberland summer temperature had not been above 15 C at this point.

Summer did eventually appear a few days later with outdoor temperatures of 21 C, Paul noted that in 11 days of the Super Composter being totally filled it had reduced by 50% which is helpful when there’s weeds and grass cuttings to be added on a regular basis!

Using the largest of the Super Composters Paul has noted that the lid is difficult to manoeuvre in some cases and made some fantastic suggestions for updates to make removing it and adding waste much quicker and easier. Watch this space.

More exciting waste was added in July in the form of a kombucha ‘SCOBY’ (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) which gives kombucha its fizz, Paul also added and lemon rind and elderflower heads after they’d been used to make elderflower champagne and cordial - sounds delicious!

With the outdoor temperatures now dipping considerably and the first frosts appearing across the north of the UK we will be interested to find out the feedback from this month in the coming weeks.

You can read more updates from our Super Composter testers here.