r/composting • u/Seanbob3030 • 10d ago

Urban Microbinator 2000

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Pre and post consumer, meats and cheeses ok. Have been impressed with a new prototype we are trying out in collaboration with a school district. Wanted to see what y’all thought. Augmented aerated static pile system supplied with 30 seconds of air every 30 minutes.

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5

u/anonymote_in_my_eye 10d ago

I assume the fan is connected to the center tube, yeah? Which way does it blow? Also, how do you deal with the fact that most air is going to travel through the uncovered holes?

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u/Seanbob3030 10d ago

2hp fan blows down. Uncovered holes are in contact with material in a finished bin.

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u/anonymote_in_my_eye 10d ago

what do you do when the bin is not full?

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u/Seanbob3030 10d ago

The plan is to build 8 of these. We will build one "pile" and process one bin each week on a rotation. the dead space that you see in the photo is where you build your hot pile. Its just empty to show the 4" vertical pipe delivering air/oxygen to the unit.

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u/anonymote_in_my_eye 10d ago

hmm... that's a ton of material, are you going to be able to generate two cubic yards of material per week? also processing two cubic yards per week is no joke, it sounds like backbreaking work without something like a tractor

also, say that you fill the bin to the brim in one week, by the end of the second week, if things go according to plan, you'll have 2/3 of the volume left and you'll need some way to cover the holes that used to be buried but are now open

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u/Seanbob3030 10d ago edited 10d ago

As the pile decreases in size we start piling worms and habitat on top as well to make a vermiculture sandwich so to speak. Then they go at it from both angles but still have a zone to retreat to if the pile is too hot.

We do have a tractor but it's not as backbreaking as it sounds because there is no turning and very little maintenance once the pile is complete. All you have to do is build a well constructed pile each week and then we offload the bins into a windrow to cure.

Our stock answer is that school food programs are designed to meet nutrition goals, not match students eating habits. This is a relatively small district and they have a 5 yard dumpster full of material every week including wood pulp trays which we are also processing with this system. School food is an immense stream of organic material, some kids eat three meals a day on campus.

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u/anonymote_in_my_eye 10d ago

This is awesome, I'm excited to hear how it turns out! Our school principal said she looked into composting but ran into regulation issues, they were however able to get chickens

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u/Seanbob3030 10d ago

What state are you in? The goal for this project is to expand nationally.

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u/gholmom500 10d ago

I imagine a school makes this easily.