How to Build a Cedar Compost Bin

Find out how to build a compost bin using cedar deck boards and 2×6. It has two bins, removable front panels and hinged lids so composts can be easily added and turned.

Tools & Materials

Impact driver (Flex)

Miter saw (Milwaukee)

Table saw (Skilsaw)

Jigsaw (Flex)

Western Red Cedar 2×6 and deck boards

Spax #10 x 3-inch HCRx Coated Screws

Spax #8 x 2-inch HCRx Coated Screw

How to Build the Compost Bin

First of all, compost bins–especially for food waste–should be building code if you ask me.

They are easy, inexpensive ways to cut the amount of trash that enters the waste stream significantly. In the years Theresa and I composted, we cut the number of trash bags going out of our house by about half. 

If everybody did that–and almost anybody can–mother hen trash trucks would be less full, landfills would be less choked, there’d be less diesel being pumped into the air. 

In our first compost bin, the food waste we put in there–rinds, the occasional cereal box, egg shells, coffee grounds, banana peels, and so on–broke down roughly about as fast as we put it in there so we never really used the compost. It was a cool, closed loop system.

I based the design of this new compost bin on the old one. My customer wanted two bays so the design features needed to include accessing each bay independently to load, turn the compost, and unload as needed. 

While pressure treated lumber may be used for a compost bin, we used Western Red Cedar for this one. While not rated for ground contact, cedar will last for years. 

Check out the video and let us know what you think on YouTube.