So this year I wanted to  do something special for Earth Day.  Something that would make a little difference and perhaps make my life a little easier. I had a hard time deciding what to do when last week it just came to me.  I was going to build my own compost tumbler.  The rules being that I had to build it out of things I already had or could buy in a recycling sort of way.  This is also a project that is true to my heartfelt feeling that everyday is Earth Day.  I am not doing something just today, but something that will work for me everyday.

So here it is, my finished product, and following is a detailed account of how I did it.

I started this project like I do most.    I Googled the term “build your own compost tumbler“.  Frankly, there were a lot of plans, but they were all far too complicated and expensive to build as well.  A compost tumbler should not need $100 in parts to build on top of the cost of the barrel you will be using!

Anyway, in the picture to the left you see 5 food grade barrels that I got from a friend and client that recently bought a house from me.  You see, they bought the house and it came with rain barrels.  They didn’t want them (shudder), so I willingly took them off of their hands.  Three I used for their intended purpose, one I gave to a neighbor and one I saved for compost.

the one I saved had only one large hole cut out for a downspout and was perfect otherwise.  I then purchased three 4 foot sections of 1 1/2 inch galvanized pipe, four 1 foot sections of pipe, 2 elbows and 2 tees.  Total cost so far, including the free barrel, of $35.00, or probably about $65.00 if you were to buy a barrel. The pipes came from a recycler.

The next step was to drill a 1 3/4 inch hole in the center of each end of the barrel so that I could slide one of the 4 foot pipes through the center.  I then ran the pipe through the hole and connected an elbow to each end and then the other two long sections of pipe were connected, like legs, to the elbow.  At the bottom of those two sections I connected the tees and then connected the four 1 foot sections of the pipe to each of the tees, like feet.  Lastly, I buried the feet about two feet underground for stability and to bring the tumbler to the right height.

Notice the legs buried in the ground in the photo above.  This made it very stable and I needed no special connectors to help me turn the barrel on the pipe.  It rotates smoothly and the pipe through the center helps to break up the compost as you tumble it.

The final step was to cut out the door.  I drilled four holes in each corner and then used a keyhole saw to cut out the door.  You will notice in the pictures that the holes were rather large.  I did this because I did not cut any other holes and these will provide for ventilation.  I then installed two brass hinges and a slide latch to keep it closed.

If I were to do it differently I would use a hasp instead of a slide latch.  The slide latch slips out while turning and the door opens.  That is a problem, so I had to bungee it.

Below is a photo of the inside full of future compost.  Good luck in building your own and I hope this helps!