Green cone technology

Let's ignore Trump and the pro-global warming 

GOP on this one

Green cones are composters for food waste that run on sunlight. Green composting turns food waste into liquid or semi-liquid food for plants, not compost. The top part stays above ground in the sun. The bottom part is buried underground.

The WaPo writes (not paywalled):

What if you could make food waste disappear by throwing it into a hole in the ground and walking away. No more fouled trash. Less climate pollution. While researching ways to compost, I discovered an easy method to turn virtually any organic waste from veggie scraps to chicken bones to pet waste back into nature: solar digesters.

They don’t produce compost, the rich, fluffy organic matter that turns back into soil. Instead, these biodigesters — typically little more than half-buried plastic cones within a small patch of dirt — harness microbial workhorses and the sun’s heat to transform organic matter into its elemental components, mostly carbon, water, CO2 and micronutrients, says Yichao Rui, a soil scientist in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. “Nematodes, bacteria and fungi all work together to decompose all these organic materials,” he says. “Soil organisms large and small primarily digest and eat them,” transforming plant and animal matter back into the building blocks for soil and air.

Solar digesters remain little known. For now, “soil savers” ($52), an insulated compost bin for cold climates, and “barrel composters” ($38), a compost bin or drum you can rotate to mix the contents inside, are the most popular, says Josh Kelly, a solid waste program manager at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

The most popular design is probably the Green Cone. The digester ($200 retail, or subsidized by many waste agencies) is a two-foot high cone above a plastic mesh basket buried a few inches underground that holds food scraps. The cone concentrates the sun’s heat. A bacterial culture, or “accelerator powder,” is sprinkled on the food scraps occasionally to speed decomposition.

The plastic mesh basket allows soil microbes and invertebrates to join the party, while the large air chamber ensures aerobic conditions suppress smells. Since it’s buried underground, most animals are excluded, although wire mesh is recommended if burrowing animals become a problem.

How much food waste can it handle? Two pounds per day, or the equivalent of food scraps from one to two families, says Karl Warkomski of Tar River Trading Post, the distributor of Green Cones in the United States. He says a combination of warm internal temperatures as high as 130 degrees and tailored microorganisms make quick work of almost any organic matter, even bones and pet waste (with a special bacterial culture). Every few years, anything remaining in the basket can be dumped. Only woody biomass like branches and yard waste, and industrially compostable plastic are not recommended.

On a warm spring morning, I positioned my Green Cone in my backyard and began filling it with food waste. Over the subsequent months, it consumed everything I threw at it. The level of waste never rose more than a few inches. At one point, I did have a little unwanted help: a burrowing animal broke into the underground basket. I fixed it with cheap wire mesh. It’s still going to this day.

Is a solar digester for everyone? You will need to dig a hole in well-drained ground and get enough sunlight. If you have waterlogged or clay soils, you’ll need to elevate the cone so the digestion chamber stays moist, but not soaked. Decomposition slows, but does not stop, in the winter so long as there’s sun exposure. If it’s too pricey (Warkomski says high manufacturing costs in Canada, the United States and Britain, as well as the use of high-grade recycled plastic contribute to higher costs), share with another family or, if you have the time, you can DIY on your own.

By Germaine: Degrading stuff before your eyes!