Compostadores de Jardín
Un compostador que nunca se pudre dentro del compost
El compost destruye aquello que lo contiene. Los cajones PolyBrick® no se ven afectados: sin podredumbre, sin tratamientos, sin sustituciones, y con juntas abiertas que permiten que la pila respire.
Por qué PolyBrick funciona aquí
Hay una ironía particular en un compostador de madera. La pila que contiene es una máquina para descomponer materia orgánica, y el cajón está fabricado con materia orgánica. Los palets duran dos o tres años. La madera tratada dura algo más y pone conservantes en contacto con el compost que luego se va a extender sobre cultivos alimentarios.
PolyBrick no es alimento para la pila. No se pudre, y el material es inerte, por lo que nada migra del cajón al compost. Es resistente a los rayos UV, de modo que la cara expuesta al sol no se vuelve quebradiza mientras la cara en sombra permanece húmeda.
La otra ventaja es práctica: como los bloques encajan a presión en lugar de estar fijados, el cajón puede desmontarse. Quien haya intentado voltear una pila o vaciar un compostador a través de una puerta pequeña entenderá por qué eso importa.
Aplicaciones habituales
- Cajones individuales de compostaje doméstico
- Sistemas de rotación de dos y tres cajones
- Cajones para compost de hojas
- Compostaje en huertos y jardines comunitarios
- Almacenamiento de hierba cortada y residuos verdes
- Cajones para estiércol y almacenamiento de purines sólidos
- Almacenamiento de astillas y corteza
- Proyectos de jardín escolar y comunitario
Resumen técnico
| Montaje | Encaje a presión. Sin herramientas, sin mortero, sin fijaciones |
| Acceso | Las hiladas frontales pueden retirarse para abrir el cajón y voltear o vaciar la pila |
| Aireación | Se construye con huecos entre bloques para que el aire llegue a la pila a través de las paredes |
| Base | Abierta al suelo, para que lombrices y microorganismos entren y el líquido drene |
| Contacto | Inerte. Nada lixivia hacia el compost destinado al cultivo |
| Material | 100% polipropileno reciclado, resistente a los rayos UV, fabricado en la UE a partir de polímeros reciclados |
| Vida útil | 25 años bajo garantía |
| Mantenimiento | Ninguno. Puede aclararse con agua si se desea; eso es todo |
Construya para que respire
Una pila de compost necesita aire. Sin él, el proceso se vuelve anaeróbico: más lento, más frío y generador del olor agrio que lleva a mucha gente a abandonar el compostaje.
Construya las paredes laterales con huecos deliberados entre bloques, no macizas, para que el aire circule a través de las paredes en toda la altura de la pila. Es el mismo principio que un cajón de listones de madera, sin que los listones se pudran.
Deje la base abierta al suelo. Las lombrices, los hongos y las bacterias colonizan la pila desde abajo, el líquido drena en lugar de acumularse, y la pila mantiene contacto con el suelo del que procede.
Por qué tres cajones superan a uno
Un cajón único es un lugar donde depositar residuos de jardín. Un sistema de tres cajones es un proceso, y produce considerablemente más compost aprovechable con menos esfuerzo.
El principio es sencillo: el cajón uno es el que se está llenando ahora, el cajón dos es el que se llenó antes y está en plena descomposición, el cajón tres es el compost terminado listo para usar. Cuando el cajón tres se vacía, todo avanza un puesto, y el acto de trasladar el material entre cajones lo voltea y airea, que es lo que acelera todo el proceso.
Como el sistema es modular, puede empezar con un cajón y añadir los demás a medida que crezca el volumen, sin necesidad de comprometerse con la instalación completa desde el primer día.
How it goes together
- Choose a level spot with reasonable access. You will be wheeling barrows to it in all weathers, so a route that is not across wet lawn is worth having.
- Clear the ground and level it. Leave the base as bare soil rather than paving it, so the heap stays in contact with the ground.
- Lay the first course and check it level in both directions. Everything above follows it.
- Build up the back and sides in courses, leaving gaps between blocks for airflow, and staggering the joints between courses.
- Build the front as loose, stackable courses that lift out rather than as part of the structure. This is your access.
- Where you are building multiple bays, share the dividing walls between them.
- Cap the top course if you want a finished edge, and leave the top open or cover the heap with a sheet or old carpet to keep rain off.
The removable front
This is the detail that makes a bay pleasant to use rather than a chore, and it is where most bought bins fail.
Build the front wall as courses that simply lift out. Fill the bay with the front in place, then remove the courses one at a time as you dig the heap out, so you are always working at a comfortable height with the face of the heap open to you.
Compare that with a plastic dalek bin, where finished compost is at the bottom, under everything you have added since, behind a hatch the size of a letterbox. The removable front is the single biggest reason people actually turn their heaps.
Sizing the bay
Bigger heaps work better. A heap needs enough mass to hold heat, and a small bin loses it to the outside faster than the process generates it, which is why little bins produce cold, slow compost.
Around a cubic metre is the usual working minimum for a heap that heats properly. Below that, composting still happens, it is just slower and stays cooler, which means weed seeds and roots survive it.
Do not go so wide that you cannot reach the middle with a fork. Depth front to back is more useful than width, and if you have the space, another bay beats one enormous one.
Muck heaps and green waste
The same structure works for manure storage, grass clippings and wood chip, and for those the material advantage is even clearer, because these are wetter, heavier and harder on a container than garden compost.
For muck heaps, check what applies to you on storage siting and run-off before you build. Rules on storing manure near watercourses, ditches and boreholes vary, and the position of the heap matters more than the bay it is in.
Get it right first time
The one thing worth knowing: put it somewhere you will actually walk to.
The most common composting failure is not technique, it is distance. A bay at the far end of the garden, across the lawn, behind the shed, gets used enthusiastically in spring and abandoned by October when it is dark and wet.
Site it somewhere on a route you already take, with a firm approach underfoot. Slightly less tidy and considerably more used beats beautifully hidden and full of nettles.
Ask our engineer
Questions about bay sizing, multiple bay layouts or muck heap storage? Ask below, or get in touch directly.
Common Questions
Why use plastic blocks for a compost bay instead of wood?
A compost heap is a machine for breaking down organic material, and a wooden bin is organic material. Pallets last two or three years, and treated timber puts preservative in contact with compost you may spread on food crops.
PolyBrick does not rot and is inert, so nothing moves from the bay into the compost, and it is UV stabilised so the sunny side does not go brittle.
Does a compost bay need gaps for airflow?
Yes. A heap without air goes anaerobic, which is slower, colder and produces the sour smell that makes people abandon composting.
Build the side walls with deliberate gaps between blocks so air moves in through the walls along the full height of the heap. It is the same principle as a slatted timber bay, without the slats rotting.
Should the compost bay have a base?
Leave it open to bare soil. Worms, fungi and bacteria colonise the heap from below, liquid drains away instead of pooling, and the heap stays in contact with the ground.
Paving underneath cuts the heap off from the organisms that do the work.
How big should a compost bay be?
Around a cubic metre is the usual working minimum for a heap that heats properly, because a heap needs enough mass to hold heat and small bins lose it faster than the process generates it.
Below that, composting still happens but stays cool and slow, which means weed seeds and roots survive. Do not go so wide that you cannot reach the middle with a fork.
How do you get the compost out?
Build the front wall as loose courses that lift out rather than as part of the structure. Remove them one at a time as you dig the heap out, so you are always working at a comfortable height with the face of the heap open.
It is the single biggest reason people actually turn their heaps, compared with a bin where finished compost sits at the bottom behind a small hatch.
Is a three bay system worth it?
It turns composting from storage into a process. Bay one is what you are filling, bay two is actively rotting, bay three is finished and ready to use. When bay three empties everything shifts along, and moving material between bays turns and aerates it, which accelerates everything.
Because the system is modular you can start with one bay and add others as volume grows.
Can I use it for a muck heap or grass clippings?
Yes, and the material advantage is even clearer, because manure, clippings and wood chip are wetter, heavier and harder on a container than garden compost.
For muck heaps, check what applies to you on storage siting and run-off before building, since rules on storing manure near watercourses, ditches and boreholes vary and the position matters more than the bay.
Does the bay need a lid?
Not structurally, but covering the heap helps. Keeping heavy rain off stops the heap becoming waterlogged and cold, and retains warmth.
A sheet, a board or an old carpet over the top is enough, and it can be lifted off when you add material.
Will it need any maintenance?
No. There is nothing to rot, treat, stain or replace, and no fixings to work loose. Rinse it down if you want to, but that is the extent of it.
The blocks carry a 25 year warranty and can be dismantled and reused elsewhere if you reorganise the garden.
