I have a 2-bin system made from old corrugated roofing metal. I bent the sheets with a 2x4 into a square U shape, with 2 U's for each bin.

One is active, with the green stuff like grass clippings and kitchen scraps going there. The other is kind of storage for leaves and small sticks, for next year. Each year, I use the good stuff and switch to the other bin, using the slightly started last-year's leaves for a base. Oak leaves take a long time to break down, and this makes them more usable.

I have a 2 bin system. I used old corrugated roofing metal bent into 2 interlocking square U shapes, and made two of those.

All the leaves and brown stuff goes into one. All the green / kitchen stuff goes into the other, mixed with leaves from the first as needed. I have excess leaves, so this helps me get the right balance.

I also keep a big pile of palm fronds just sort of rotting in the corner. They take forever to break down, but I can pull them out to spread as mulch in the summer-- they work well because they don't blow away in our heavy winds. They don't look all that great... but I'm working on a better solution (wish I owned a chipper!)

I compost in several locations. In the garden, I sheet compost in the paths between my beds where garden waste combined with material cut from the grass and weeds growing in the paths decays naturally like leaves decay in the woods. Once a year or so (or whenever I need it) I dig this compost from the paths to add to the raised beds.

Composting also occurs in the sheep feeding areas where spilled hay/feed and sheep manure get trampled into the ground by the sheep and compost naturally. I'll dig this compost out in the winter.

Also I do some composting where I mix the hay/feed/manure compost mentioned above with fresh sheep manure collected in the winter areas where the sheep congregate. I will typically leave it in a mound for a growing season and usually end up growing peas and melons on it while its there. I will dump vegetable scraps from the house onto the mound where the healthy worm population quickly reduces it to compost. I also use it as a convenient worm supply for when I want to catch bluegill from the farm lake for the table.

I have a yard waste recycling facility a couple miles from the house. I take my leaves there in the fall, but seem to always have a couple bags that miss the bus and don't make it. I empty those bags behind my shed in the back corner of my yard, and dump some grass clippings on them in the summer. In the two years I've been doing this, I've never turned the pile. I suppose I should do that... :o

When I still lived with my Grandma, she had a big (2-3 cu. meter) brick compost. It was built around 1970 with leftover materials from the house, and was supposed to be for trash. When regular trash service came to neighborhood it became a compost. It sits on a concrete slab, the top is also concrete, the walls brick, so it keeps warmth pretty well (cats like to sleep in there in late fall).

When I moved in with my Wife I felt lonely without a compost pile, so I bought a 400-liter plastic compost box. I still miss the brick compost though...

This post is old but it can be a real problem any time.

Funny battle. I had the same problem. I just took 3/4" pex tube and drilled some 1/4" holes near the bottom. I connected this tube to HWT using garden hose. I pushed this tube inside the pile. So wasps were invited to local sauna. The next day I carefully opened the nest. All invited guests were cooked :).

I won 1:0. No bites no mess no chemicals.....

I just started with composting..well mine's kinda primitive though...I just dug a deep hole in the ground and that's where I throw leftover/spoiled food or food trimmings (onion skins,potato peelings,etc.) then cover it with a layer of soil..next day another layer of crap and soil till it's filled then time to fill up another hole.

Saves me money (no need to pay the garbage collector) and deters pests (rats, roaches and ants are unheard of in my house because there's no waste food lying around in bins,etc.) and the compost gets used for my organic garden...