Welcome to the forum!

I've never used a garbage can sized unit. I have used a 40 gallon size drum drilled with holes in a horizontal position as well as a 1 cubic yard tumbler also horizontal. The 40 gallon has never really heated up. At best it got a little warm. I doubt anything that small will generate a lot of heat. Having said that, heat is not an absolute requirement for composting so a small unit will decompose materials over time given the correct parameters.

Lloyd

It will eventually make compost. I would recommend a circle of chicken wire, it would not only be cheaper, but with leaves and such in it, the color blends into the landscape better than a big plastic can. It's scalable diameter-wise, and you can hide several small ones behind bushes and such if desired.

In any case, dive in and compost however you want, just get started, and find what you like.

i made compost in a half winebarrel this spring and summer. i probably filled and emptied it twice. the only moisture i used was urine and when i emptied it the other day it was about as good compost as i've ever made, just good compost smell and great texture. kind of off topic but yes i think you can make small volume compost but probably not in the winter.

sorry dupe

This post was edited by davids10 on Mon, Nov 17, 14 at 23:26

I have also composted in such a small container, and had reasonable success. One key for me is making sure that there is sufficient N in the mix to help encourage decay because the temperatures don't rise very much in the small container. I add a bit of fertilizer to my small containers if needed, and find that I get reasonable results in a few months. I like to dump out the contents of one small container into another small container periodically as my way of mixing; I find that the bottom of the container is much moister than the top (which is uncovered), so this gets everything in a moist zone every so often. The small containers I use are rubbermaid 22 gallon tubs. Even outdoors in the winter, with the addition of a bit of N, I get some reasonable rotting. When the weather heats up in the spring, the compost finishes pretty quickly. Note that using fertilizer on compost is not something everybody does, but it is actually one of the Rodale recommendations on one of their sites talking about quick composting. Since my goal is reasonably quick decomposition, and I don't mind adding the extra nutrients, I do add the fertilizer. For me, about a tablespoon of 21-0-0 or 13-13-13 added 2 or 3 times over the course of a month is sufficient to really move the rotting along. I also keep my compost quite a bit wetter than most recommend: I have only one hole, about 2" up the side of the tub for drainage. I allow water to collect at the bottom to encourage anaerobic decompostion. When the tub is dumped, there is an opportunity for other parts to get into the anaerobic zone. The finished product is quite good looking, does not smell, and is certainly appreciated by the plants.
Renais

While some do state they have made compost in these very small containers most everyone else has had problems. Air circulation is most always insufficient, excess moisture is a problem which leads to putrid odors. My experience with garbage can composters is that you cannot put enough holes in the can and have it stay together.
Perhaps this composting tutorial might be of some help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial

that tutorial makes composting seem much more complex than it really is. it is a simple natural process that happens whether we help or not. i've made compost both large and small and its all good. right now i have a big heap cooking which will be finished in 11 days. like most things all it takes is a little intelligence and a little common sense.

I use a trash can I recycled from my mother (it had a large crack in the bottom and leaked on her garage floor). An hour with a drill and it looks like I used it for buckshot target practice--there's at least one 1/4" hole or so per inch, usually more.

I'm not sure about the gallon size, but large--it was one of the garbage cans on rollers.

It works well, but seems to have enough holes (plus the big crack on the bottom) for air to enter and liquid to leave.

Don't make a tumbler with a trash can. The plastic just isn't thick enough and it will deform and then be impossible to tumble. Even a 55 gal drum has problems and the plastic on those is very thick. I use 55 gal drums sitting upright on cinder blocks. The drums have 3/4" wide slots cut all along the bottom. I just fill it up and let the worms do there thing. Then I empty the whole drum when it's done. Most people want to make compost really fast so they get sold on the tech of a tumbler. I personally don't like fiddling with my compost. I'd rsther fiddle with my plants.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have considered using the chicken wire approach and hiding it behind some bushes but I thought the compost needs sufficient light. That tutorial did help since it was referring to the South where we don't have a problem with heat and sunlight. Now I just need to find a spot...

I've read around here that rolling a trash can doesn't really work. Everything just slides around in the can.
Apparently, you need to create some sort of agitator (like in your dryer) so the contents will tumble and mix, giving it air. Nancy

Unless a trash can is packed very tightly with composting material, if I roll it a bit, I do get mixing. However, I am not an advocate of doing extra work. I find that leaving the material in the container for a while, and then perhaps dumping the whole container into another does enough to mix things up a bit. WIth small container composting, I'm not trying to maintain a critical mass. The mixing or dumping I do is mostly to make sure that all the material spends some time in the very moist section of (uncovered, usually) container so that it can rot. As I mentioned above, I only put one small hole in my containers, a couple inches up from the bottom to drain large accumulations of water. Otherwise, the container just sits out and has things rot. The anaerobic zone at the base of these containers is very effective in assisting the rotting. The bokashi composters that are around use anaerobic composting quite effectively as well. I just find no need to add all the special materials of bokashi. There can definitely be a smell when the anaerobic material, whether bokashi or just wet rotting stuff, is first exposed to the air again. I find that the smell does not last very long (an hour or two), and is not objectionable to me: it smells like a marsh or swamp for a short while. As noted several times above, the composting will occur in a small container. One of the beauties of this forum is letting folks know that things like this work; a big, hot pile is not the only way. If you are on the fence about this, why not give it a try in a small container; I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results. Nature has been rotting things without big piles or special equipment for quite a while.
Renais

The tutorial mentioned above also notes the value of cold composting, what happens in a container. "Cold / Slow Composting is for people who have more carbon (brown) material than nitrogen (green) material, and are not concerned about a slow composting rate, a desire for weed seed destruction, or a need for plant disease suppression.

The advantages of cold/slow composting include ease of implementation, lower level of management required. " and "Cold Bin Composting:
Simply fill your compost bin halfway with browns and bury kitchen scraps in the bin. After a month or so, start layering kitchen scraps and thoroughly covering with browns and a little soil. Keep adding material throughout the year. As the bin fills up, start a second compost bin. After a year or so, the material in the first bin will have decomposed enough for most landscape uses. Start harvesting from the bottom of the pile. "
I like the idea of not too much work. " Over the course of a year or two, the material will decompose, adding valuable organic matter to the soil, without the need for a formalized bin or composting activity."
Renais

Like I always tell people at composting workshops, 'pile it up and let it rot!"

Yes, compost happens. It is mostly a matter of when do you want a finished product to use. A common error made is that the compost process needs sunlight and it does not during the composting process. Sunlight is needed while the ingredients for compost are growing, but not while they are being digested and converted into the finished compost. The material put into compost does not "rot" it is digested by bacteria and those bacteria need air and moisture along with a Nitrogen source to fuel their efforts. Too much moisture blocks the air necessary for those bacteria to work while too little will also slow the process down. Too much moisture can cause anaerobic bacteria to go to work and they do not smell good so that compost will have a putrid odor. That will, eventually, turn into compost but there is some evidence that anaerobic compost might cause problems with plant growth.
Properly made compost will always have an odor of good rich earth. Unfortunately many people today do not know what that smells like.