I was out for a stroll recently and I scoped out this roughed up compost toter.  Looks like it gets a lot of use.  Of course, I had to open it up and take a look inside:

Yum!

It looks like they don’t use any sort of liner… I don’t blame them, they’re expensive!  I have mixed feelings about bioplastics.  However, having a raw container like this gets pretty nasty.

I could smell it pretty well before I opened the lid, that’s for sure.  The wonderful aromas of an unlined compost toter can’t do anything but hurt the “movement”.  Then again, I guess it’s not so much different than a can full of garbage (garbage being defined as “wet” waste, which includes food).

On the underside of the lid, there were plenty of critters hanging out:

These look like compost mites to me…nothing wrong with having them around, they’re just indicative of a moist environment.  This toter didn’t appear to have any air holes present, so when that lid is shut for a while, the contents just get anaerobic and extra funky.

While I would love to encourage not using liners wherever possible, this is what happens when you don’t.  It doesn’t really bother me, but obviously it won’t make the average person too excited about composting.