Inherited compost bin - what to do?

[cafecreme]

Hi everyone,

Hope I'm posting in the right place. I'm new to gardening and we inherited a half full plastic dalek composter from the previous tenants at our current place. Apparently the people from two years ago were pretty into gardening but the last lot weren't. I've been adding to it with a mix of greens and browns and it's now about 2/3 full. Today decided to try and give it a stir and see what was going on. The top 1/3 or so is loose and composting OK but the bottom 1/3 is a bit of a nightmare - some stuff has composted, but there's lot of sticky tape, a plastic bag, plastic bits and even a chicken bone in there and it's compacted so I can't stir it. What should I do? I took out all the rubbish I could get to, as well as a whole load of conifer bits which had dried out but I didn't want to mix back in. I'd really like to avoid taking the dalek off and going through it as it's in a confined space round the side of the house (which, incidentally, probably only gets an hour of sun per day, probably doesn't help).

Thanks!

[Kleftiwallah]

Looks like the best thing you can do is to seperate your stuff from the manky stuff and take that to the recycling centre with the time honoured phrase "good riddance"!

Cheers, Tony.

[taff]

If you can't dig the stuff out, or get to it through the front, then taking the top off is your only option.

[rustylady]

I always find it's best to take the whole Dalek off and then sort through the heap. It's easier than it sounds, honest.

[Two_Sheds]

Ditto what Rusty says, it's really the easiest option.

If you can't get to it easily to work, you may want to move it

[WendyC]

Having inherited someone else's compost heap earlier this year which was full of rubbish I would get rid of it and start again. At least you know your're not going to be picking rubbish off the garden at a later date.

[cafecreme]

Thanks for the helpful advice! I shall find an afternoon and get rid of t old stuff. Glad it's easier than it looks.

[binley100]

If you have a tarp , put that down in front before you lift the dalek . Easier to clean up afterwards.