Cold-bay composting is the simplest, most low-maintenance way to begin composting at home. Whether you’re working with a small garden, a shared back court, or a larger allotment space, a cold bay turns everyday food scraps and garden cuttings into rich, crumbly compost with minimal effort. Many organisations promote cold-bay composting because it’s affordable, scalable, and easy for beginners.

Get a bin

South Lanarkshire Council gives out home composting bins (Dalek bins). A Dalek bin is a plastic, enclosed compost bin that works mostly as a cold compost system. Waste is added from the top and breaks down slowly, with some heat retained by the plastic sides. Please note the scheme is currently maxed out. Contact South Lanarkshire Council for more information.

Currently, there is not a similar scheme available in North Lanarkshire Council. Instead you can either get your own Dalek bin or use your brown food wheelie bin. Please note if you have garden waste, you need to have a permit to add it to your brown bin. You can learn more here.

South Lanarkshire Council

Build a bin

Prefer to make your own? Wooden pallet bays are cheap, sturdy and perfect for cold-bay composting.

Garden Organic offers great DIY compost-bin designs and their step-by-step guides are some of the clearest and easiest to follow.

Pros: very low effort, cheap to build, great for garden waste.
Cons: slow results, can look messy, doesn’t kill weed seeds or pathogens.

How to build a bin

Getting started

Most people start composting using cold bays. Cold bays are open compost areas (often wooden or pallet-built) where garden and food waste is added over time and left to break down naturally. They rely on worms, insects, and microbes rather than heat, so decomposition is slow.

Learn what to add, what to avoid, and how to keep your compost active with minimal fuss.

We can warmly recommend the following guides to help you get started:

FAQs

In December, we hosted a Q&A webinar with Propagate to support Lanarkshire community growers getting started with composting. Below you'll find some of the questions and answers from the session.

What can I add to compost?

What can I put in my compost?

You can add the following items to your compost:

Greens - nitrogen:

Grass cuttings
Young weeds
Nettles (not roots)
Comfrey leaves
Urine (ideally diluted 20:1)
Uncooked fruit and veg peelings
Tea leaves and coffee grounds
Soft green prunings
Animal manure (only from herbivores)
Poultry manure
Seaweed
Bokashi

Browns - carbon rich

Cardboard e.g. cereal packets, egg packets etc.
Waste paper and junk mail (ensure it's unbleached paper)
Bedding (hay, straw etc.) from vegetarian pets
Tough hedge clippings
Woody prunings
Old bedding plants
Straw
Wood chip, sawdust
Spent mushroom substrate

Is it ok to compost citrus and onion waste?

Yes, you can add citrus and onion waste to your compost pile. However, if you have a wormery, avoid adding citrus and onion waste.

What should I not put in my compost?

Cooked food and meat shouldn’t be added to a cold composter as this can attract vermin.

How long does it take?

How long does it need to be kept before using it?

For cold composting it is ready in 6-12 months. By turning the compost you can decrease this time.

For hot composting it is ready in 6-8 weeks but still needs a maturing time of 6-12 months to get the best quality.

How long does it take to produce a good compost?

The longer you leave your compost to mature, the better quality it will be.

Hot composting - speeding things up

How can you increase the rate of decomposition?

Switching from cold composting to hot composting will speed things up.

Chopping things up smaller will also help as it will take less time for things to break down.

If things have slowed down adding more greens to the pile will increase the nitrogen content which will help speed things up.

You can add Bokashi to your compost pile. The Bokashi won’t produce compost but it will help to ferment food and get the process going.

Other

What is the best number of bays in a compost set up? 2/3/4?

There is no correct answer to this. It depends on how much waste you have. Ideally, you would have at least 2 as you can work on building one up - when it’s full you can cover it and let is sit. Then you can begin working on the second one.

When the first bay is ready you can begin using this whilst the second matures then begin using the second bay, allowing you to cycle between them.

What is the best method to ensure your compost is sterile?

The main risks to your compost are spreading disease from plants or spreading pathogens from food however, you shouldn’t add these items unless you are hot composting. Ensure your compost is reaching 60c for at least 3 days and always refer to SEPA regulations.

How do you care for your compost over winter?

Composting tends to slow down over winter but doesn’t completely stop so you can still add things to it.

You can cover it to protect from frost and avoid waterlogging.

Thoughts on tumbler composters compared with traditional?

Tumbler composters work really well as they are all enclosed so can help reduce the risk of vermin. As they are taller than traditional compost bays or bins they can also help with accessibility as people don’t need to bend or lean over to use it.

When turning (or tumbling) you are constantly adding oxygen which helps break things down a bit faster too.

Composting at home: Getting started with cold bays