Scotspin guide

Your Scotspin will arrive fully assembled. The handle, which you can see on the right of the picture, has a strong elastic band (see arrow) on to keep it in place during transit. This handle gives extra leverage and helps to turn the drum when it is getting heavy to turn and also can be used to stop the drum turning by locking against the bottom of the frame. (This Scotspin is shown from the back and it is this back bar which catches the handle). Setting up the Scotspin Ideally the Scotspin needs a level site on hard standing.

Care of the Scotspin

The ‘Scotspin’ needs very little care but please oil the working hinges on the opening doors and always ‘park’ the Scotspin with the doors on top to minimise strain on the clips and hinges. Don’t overfill! Only fill to about 75% capacity to allow for tumbling. Tumble every time you add material until thoroughly mixed.

Using the ‘Scotspin

Always add roughly equal amounts of dry wood-chip, woodpellets or sawdust when starting to compost food waste in the Scotspin. Cardboard and paper tend to ‘ball up’ when you tumble but are useful in absorbing liquid so if it seems unduly wet only add sparingly and mix well with the food waste. Also see ‘trouble shooting’ on the back page .

As the food waste will be inside the Scotspin for as little as two weeks, the system works best in combination with the Scotty’s HotBox or just HotBox for short (shown on the right here), which slowly finishes the composting process, mainly through the action of worms which produce a lovely rich compost. You can empty the Scotspin at any time; preferably before it gets too full to tumble and mix properly. The easiest way is to open the doors and tip all the contents onto the ground, (put a plastic sheet or tarpaulin down first) or into a wheelbarrow. You will need help to hold the doors back as you spin it if you use a wheelbarrow. Remove the top front three boards of the hot box and you can tip the wheelbarrow

contents straight into the HotBox over the bottom board. The material you have just emptied into the HotBox will be in various stages of decomposition, but it will carry on turning into compost inside the Hotbox; worms will move in and assist you! After the tumbling action inside the Scotspin and the addition of woodchip or wood pellets to improve the structure, this means the second phase of composting will be well aerated.

Food – balanced diet The materials you add to any compost heap become food for the countless macro and microorganisms that create the compost. Getting the right mix of these materials provides the air and water which are vital for the well being of all the life in the heap. Food waste both cooked and raw is high in Nitrogen and needs to balanced with material high in carbon, which is hard, dry structural stuff like woodchip, dry plant stems, twigs etc. Food must be added fresh every day as it arises. If you leave it festering in a bucket it will go anaerobic (without air), get very smelly, attracts flies and wasps and is much more difficult to get composting properly.

Air Air is provided by the woodchip/woodpellets/sawdust that you mix with the food waste and must not be sawdust from MDF or other composite wood with glue materials or tanalised timber etc. Water Raw fruit and veg is mostly water so it is rare that you need to add more, however the second stage composter (or maturation system (e.g. a Scotty’s HotBox) can dry out especially if paper towels and cardboard are added – if this is the case add water, preferably rainwater. Warmth The composting process will generate heat and the Scotspin is insulated to maintain this.

Mix roughly equal quantities of food waste and dry woodchip/pellets/sawdust, or if you have a mix of raw and cooked use thirds 1) dry woodchip 1) cooked food 1) raw food (it’s not an exact science! If you are using sawdust you may not need to use as much—be willing to adjust the proportions). Tumble well every time you add materials, rotate the whole drum a few times and look to see how well mixed it is.

Composting in a nutshell (the Mantra)

Trouble shooting Generally all problems stem from not following the compost mantra, i.e. Air, water, food, warmth. The mix is the vital element. What you put in must have enough water balanced with hard structural material to allow air through the mass of materials. This is what the woodchip or sawdust does. Regular tumbling ensures that air gets through to all parts so you don’t get pockets of compacted and airless material. Too wet? Sawdust, cardboard and paper also absorb water so are useful in stopping liquid oozing between the cracks. If you see this happening it may also be that it is not heating up enough (see below for more on that) If the material is composting correctly it will generate heat and much of the moisture will be released as water vapour (steam). Too dry? It can get too dry—if this is the case ease off the woodchip and any other dry carbon (sawdust, paper, cardboard etc) and add, preferably raw vegetable peelings and skins etc. Not heating up? Try adding finished or half finished compost from an actively composting compost heap. Fresh grass cuttings make an excellent activator add a few handfuls and tumble well to mix in. Make sure all materials are added daily and not left festering in buckets. Always add sufficient woodchip to ‘open up’ the food waste. Give a good tumble every time you add fresh materials. Don’t clean the Scotspin out between batches and add back a handful or two of the material that has just been taken out, this way you build up the strains of micro-organisms that you need. Smelly? Keeping food waste hanging around festering in buckets will set off the airless, (anaerobic) bacteria which produce the smell. Emptying the buckets daily is important, as is mixing the materials together and making sure you have a good balance of fresh raw materials if you are putting in a lot of cooked food waste. Any questions? Look at these websites: www.proper-job.org www.dccn.org.uk www.recycledevon.org/kidszone/teachers/primary/compost-at-school.php Or contact Nicky directly on nicky@proper-job.org The ideal companion book is ‘How to make and use COMPOST the ultimate guide’ pub 2010 by Green Books £9.95 www.greenbooks.co.uk and all good bookshops The Scotspin and Scotty’s HotBox are made in Yorkshire by Green Machine solutions See www.wormresearchcentre.co.uk