Airstone in a compost bin to avoid Anaerobic decomposition ?

[Nic Cantin]

Leaving in apartment reduces my options on where to put my compost bin so smell is a big factor.

Once in a while I put to much leftover which cause some anaerobic decompostion(smell) to happen.

What are your thought and experience about putting and Airstone connected to an air pump at the bottom of the bin to improve aerobic decomposition ? 

Cheers,

[George]

try it

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Nicolas,

Forcing air through the compost is the aim, but the compost itself must have air spaces between it. As you live in an apartment you probably won't have dry leaves or sawdust available to you. Shredded newspapers are a good idea for you. Prepare the food scraps by drying them as much as you can before you put them in the bin and cutting them up as small as possible. Try to layer the scraps between the paper to create as much air pockets as possible. As long as you don't overload the bin it won't smell much if any at all.

[Nic Cantin]

Hi Harold, 

I like the layering idea. I usually mixed cardboard pieces with newspaper which work well (top layer only). I am still curious if I could use an air-stone,similar to brewing compost tea, to see if it accelerate the process and eliminate the need to dry, cut my food at the same time. My other goal is to speed up the process so I can dump all/ almost all my leftover veggies without having a 4'x4' compost bed in my living room :)

Like George said, I will try it and see if I can stuff more food on a weekly basis without any smell.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Nicolas,

Are you using worms in your bin?

[Nic Cantin]

Harold, yes I do