Hi all,

I have a 3 bin compost system made from 7 cast off pallets. It works very well for me, not too much work

My question today is about a plastic compost bin I purchased from the county conservation society. It is a cylinder 3X3 or thereabouts. For several years I used it for kitchen scraps...because it has a lid & we have bears in our neck of the woods. The kitchen scraps never turned into compost....even after 4 years. I finally took it apart last year & had putrid sludge in the bottom 5/6th of it, stinky heavy gross stuff...... So what is a girl to do? I mean going forward. I have taken care of the sludge, but I have again been using that bin this winter for kitchen scraps. Should I add layers of shredded paper? I haven't been. In the winter I don't have access to dried leaves. Is it too late to add paper? Is it safe to add paper?

It's not too late to add paper. Any brown material would help. Take some compost out of your 3 bin system and put it in your plastic one. Put enough in to dry it out. You could also buy a small bag of pine shaveings from Wal-Mart or Tracker supply and everytime you add your kitchen scaps add a equal amount of the wood shaveings.

Thanks @plantcollector. I'll go with the shredded paper because I have that on hand. I also like your idea of throwing some compost in there (why didn't I think of that?) & will do that as soon as my compost defrosts.
Thanks.

Yep I don't like buying anything for my compost either there is to much free stuff.

Shredded leaves or newspaper will balance your compost bin. It should never be sludge.

Kitchen waste will to do that. It's always a good idea to mix it with some thing brown.