[Aidy]

I have used the palstic ones and hated them, until I moved to my new site and for some reason they are fantastic  anyways, dead cheap because you can normaly pick them up on freecycle.

[Christine]

I'm with Solway Cropper on this one. But then I've known and worked with open compost heaps for sixty years and don't see why I should pay for anything if I can do it free. 

[Trikidiki]

I got two 1m³ slatted crates with pallet bottoms. Stripped off the pallets and one side and placed the crates 1m apart. Using the stripped off timber I made a back for the middle section, made runners to go down the front of each and slats to go in the runners. Also lined the inside with rubble sacks to maintain heat.
Result is 3 1m³ bins next to each other. Waste goes in bin 1 for 6 months, turned into bin 2 for six months then into bin 3 until I need to use it.

The top is currently an old tarpaulin but the next step is to board the roof sloping to a gutter and storage bin. The allotment is on sand with no water on site so rainwater is a most precious commodity.

I'm planning to make a few more for manure and/or the leaves which I'll be 'hoovering' off the local rec. when the weather dries up for a few days. I have a huge area under trees which is otherwise wasted ground.

I have daleks at home but find they take longer unless you're prepared to empty them out, shake up to aerate then refill. They're also a haven for wildlife, friendly (slow worms) or nasties (mice and rats).

[bigben]

I currently use both and find the plastic does heat up and get the process going better but cannot cope with the volume. On my new allotment my plan is one of each - get it going in the darlek and once it fills up empty it into a pallet bin until I am ready to use it.

[8doubles]

I`ve got two daleks and also a one metre aggregate bag with a post ouside each corner and a square of carpet on top. The agg bag makes better compost but only because i forget to water the daleks.

[monsta]

no contest wood all the way for two reasons:

1 its completely free
2 its a lot easier to turn the compost

[JayG]

You can buy compost "stirrers" for daleks which make the job much easier (just push them up and down; lifts the bottom stuff to the top and also aerates the whole lot)

[bigben]

I have also found it hard to stir the stuff in the Daleks but you can lift the whole thing off and leave a free standing pile that can then be easily chucked somewhere else. I bought a stirrer but kept skinning my knuckles using it. It might have let air in did not really stir the heap so I still ended up with dry stuff at the top that had not been rotted.