Wood Ash in Reception bin

The Reception bin saga.

The Reception bin on our Community Composting site is accessible to all of the allotment plot holders. It recently  received a load of  wood ash mixed with soil from the bay previously used to burn wooden waste and dry brambles/weeds. In a small community scheme, it is difficult to restrict access to the Reception bin, but open access does create challenges. This example was the result of a ban on bonfires  which resulted in the bay in which the fires were held being emptied and cleaned out. The obvious place way to get rid of the mixture of wood ash and soil was to put it in the composting Reception bin so that it becomes our  problem. Wood ash provides a good source of minerals e.g., calcium, phosphorus  and potash but can when wet result in a sludge in the bin.   I would normally keep it separate and only add it to the bin as a thin layer which could be mixed well with the other contents. It is a pain when mixed with fine soil and tipped all over the contents already in the reception bin. But no good deed goes unpunished the locals avoid smoke in their windows and I end up with a sludge layer in the reception bin.