Rubbish compost ! Pls help

[Bluesky91]

We moved into this property 2021 summer. A large compost bin was already there and half full. We put in all our lawn cut and border plants trummings etc into it. We also occasionally put in vegetable peels. Stopped putting in anything since last summer.

Without checking anything, I stupidly emptied everY thing into my vegetable planters. It’s a mess! It no where like the compost I buy!! Lots of twigs, torn plastic bags, bits of shiny sheets (leftovers from crisp packets?).

what do I do now? Dump it all and buy fresh compost ? Or can I just bury it under fresh compost!!?

I'd dump it and start again 😬

It sounds like the other people were using it as a rubbish bin rather than a compost bin if it’s got plastic in it… you definitely need to take that out not just bury it. I’d remove the whole lot if you’re growing food in there and you don’t know what the previous owners had put in the compost bin.

If you’ve got a nice empty compost bin now then you could start composting again for in a couple of year’s time.

you don't just dump stuff in there and leave it, you need to mix it up occasionally.
If you can, it's best to empty it out, give it a good stir-up and refill the bin.

Empty it out into two piles, the top half that you have been adding to, and the bottom half full of grot. Put the top half back in the bin and give it a good mix.

Then get a garden sieve and go through all the old stuff. Take out rubbish and plastic and chuck that. Then sieve the remainder - anything that goes through the sieve will be okay as compost to use, and anything too big or not decomposed can go back in the compost heap.

In practical terms, the twigs and bits of plastic won’t upset plants if there’s a reasonable amount of soil in there. Twigs will rot down eventually, they just take longer.
Three possible sources for the plastic bits 1) biodegradable plastic bags and envelopes, which take forever to rot down in a domestic heap 2) transparent windows from envelopes - worth tearing them out before adding the envelope to the heap 3) parcel tape from any big cardboard boxes that have gone in there.

I keep a bin next to my heap and remove uncompostable stuff as I'm digging it out for use. With the best or intentions it’s surprising what gets in there - toothpaste tubes, plastic sauce pots from takeaways, and once I found the carving knife I’d been missing.

That’s a counsel of perfection. Mine get mixed once, when I tip the top half into a new bin so I can get at the rotted bottom half

Yes, you will need to go through it and take out all the plastic. Not fun but you’ll only need to do it once.

To be honest, I sometimes find bits of plastic in the kitchen compost bin - I think other people aren’t as interested in the compost as I am.

The twigs will be fine if you leave them in the compost. It sounds as though you have put a lot of green stuff in the bin but not much brown (basically Amazon boxes and loo roll holders). You need about 50:50 of green and brown to make the sort of compost you are looking for. If it is mainly green, you risk it becoming a swampy sludge with no structure.