Compost Food Waste Digesters

Food Waste Digesters

Food waste digesters share some similarities with home composting bins but are specially designed so that they can take the sort of food waste – such as meat, cooked food or dairy – that you would not want to add to a traditional composter as they would attract pests and produce unpleasant odours.

They come in many shapes & sizes to suit most budgets & environments; here’s a brief guide to some of the more popular types, we also have a PDF flowchart.

• Green Cone
  This is a dedicated food waste digester that nourishes the soil but does not produce compost. A basket is buried in the ground and a double-skinned cone fitted on top to produce a heat trap that encourages bacteria to break down food waste directly into the soil. Does not take garden waste.
• Green Johanna
  This is a fully-sealed and very well ventilated hot composter that can be used simply as a very efficient home composter but, because it is sealed, can also take most types of food waste as well as garden waste and peelings.
• Hotbin
  Similar to the Green Johanna, this insulated (polypropylene) bin is designed to take a regular supply of food & garden waste and, when operating properly, stays at a temperature of 40-60^oC and can produce compost in as little as twelve weeks.
• Bokashi Bin
  A two-bin system designed for indoor use, this uses an inoculated bran to ferment food waste. It produces a highly concentrated liquid feed and, when the contents have finished fermenting, they can be added to a conventional compost bin or dug in to a trench.
• Wormeries
  These can take small amounts of cooked food, bread and cereal as well as raw fruit & vegetable waste (not onions or citrus skins); come in a very wide range of sizes and can be used indoors, on balconies or in sheds. They produce a rich liquid feed and compost which are ideal for using on pot plants.

Many other types of digesters are available, especially for handling larger quantities of food waste. You’ll find more information on these and the types described above at http://www.carryoncomposting.com/142941463