It is made of compressed recycled materials. It has a thermometer in the lid and an air vent. It comes with an L shaped rake and another thermometer to check the actual contents as opposed to the temperature of the air immediautely under the closed lid. It also has a ratchet strap to go round the hatch area to ensure a titght fit. It also has a thick plastic hot water bottle to boost the heat if necessary. It also comes with a bag of bulking agent - a sort of chopped wood chip. It works during cold weather as well as hot
It has a hatch for removal of compost when ready and a tap at the bottom to drain off the 'juices' for diluting to make plant feed
From their website -
How does composting work in the HOTBIN?
Simply: Add kitchen and garden waste to your HOTBIN, get rich compost out.
In a nutshell (yes you can compost those as well), the HOTBIN is an aerobic compost bin that gets HOT.
When we say HOT, we are talking about temperatures of between 40-60°c; it’s this heat that allows bacteria to break waste down into compost in just 30 – 90 days, not to mention killing off weed seeds and pathogens!
To reach these temperatures you need to feed the bacteria in the bin and provide them with oxygen. In the HOTBIN you can feed them with a wider variety of waste than traditional cold composting heaps and divert more waste from landfill in the process. Pretty good!
Simply add anything from cooked food to garden waste then add some bulking agent and shredded paper or torn corrugated cardboard to the mix to keep the air flowing inside the bin. Once the bacteria are happily eating away, the heat in the HOTBIN will rise and the compost will follow.
All of this without an untidy compost heap, back breaking turning and stinky odours thanks to the integrated bio-filter minimising them and reducing the attraction of vermin and flies to the bin.
In 30-90 days from when you are hot composting, depending on the type of compost you would like, simply remove the front hatch and harvest your high quality HOTBIN compost.