"Smart" EM-bucket composter helps to save. Food waste

Household food waste is often sent to the trash can and then to a public landfill. But they can find a much better and correct application. WLabs, a spin-off of home appliance maker Whirlpool Corp., has developed a useful home appliance, the Zera Food Recycler, to turn leftover food into compost. The invented invention solves several problems at once - it reduces the cost of garbage disposal and reduces the cost of buying fertilizers for plants, if you have your own personal plot. Someone will object and say that a compost heap in the country is enough for him, but the time for turning food waste into useful humus can be on average one year, and in winter not everyone has direct access to the site and the cherished place. Zera, on the other hand, is always at hand, and it takes only 24 hours to process products into nutrient fertilizer.

Zera is designed to process more than 400 kilograms of waste per year. Externally, the device looks very stylish and will be able to fit into many kitchen interiors. Management is carried out using a touch panel or a proprietary application installed on the user's mobile device. WLabs product can be a valuable find for those who practice organic farming and use only natural supplements for their plants. That's just the price will definitely upset. The Zera Food Recycler is priced at $1,199, but early next year, the manufacturer plans to launch a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to start production. Those who wish can purchase the device for $699.

The fermentaor EM container is designed for making compost at home. Food waste is placed on a grate with a layer of 3–5 cm and treated with a solution of EM-1 with a concentration of 1:100. An inner lid is placed on the waste layer. It is designed to cut off air.

The top of the container is tightly closed with an outer lid. As waste is generated, new portions are stacked in layers and treated with a solution of the drug. After full filling, the container is emptied.

We offer a unique EM container made of plastic

The container is a cylindrical 15-liter container with two lids (inner and outer). There is a faucet at the bottom of the tank.

There is a grate inside the container at a height of 3 cm from the bottom. The inner EM lid is designed to cut off air and is an 8 Hz stabilizer for the fermentation process. The location of the grid at a distance from the bottom creates a volume where the EM liquid flows and accumulates.

The inner cover is made of EM plastic bearing 8 Hz vibration. due to this, stable work on the fermentation of kitchen waste is ensured when using various microbiological preparations: Vostok EM-1, Baikal EM-1, Radiance 3, OFEM, various microbiological starter cultures to speed up ensiling.

Waste fermented for 7-10 days can be immediately used as fertilizer, making foliar feeding of plants. The liquid formed during the fermentation process is also a valuable fertilizer.

Using an EM Solution

Collection of food waste in an EM container with subsequent treatment with an EM solution can significantly improve the sanitary and epidemiological condition of food blocks in schools, hospitals, and kindergartens. Fermented waste can be stored directly at the premises of kitchens, restaurants. They can not be taken to the landfill. After 40 - 60 days they turn into humus.

Using the EM Pickling Container

The design of the EM container makes it possible to successfully use the EM container for pickling and pickling vegetables. Since the body of the container is made of non-food plastic, the vegetables can be put into a food film insert, in which several holes must be cut, so that the brine level can be adjusted by draining it through a tap. With this use, the outer lid is removed, a layer of vegetables prepared for pickling is laid, an inverted inner lid with a weight is placed on the layer of vegetables. The quality of pickles is significantly increased due to the impact of 8Hz vibrations from the internal EM-lid. As vegetables are consumed, the liquid is drained through the tap.

Housewives who have already tried the pickling container are enthusiastic about the quality of the pickles.

For a long time we did not discuss what technology has reached.

Usually, food waste in the city either goes into ordinary garbage or into a food waste grinder, that is, into the sewer.

Loughborough University graduate Benjamin Cullis Watson has developed a dumpster that quickly converts food waste into garden compost and liquid fertilizer for houseplants.

His work is based on bokashi, a Japanese method that uses fermentation to decompose debris without leaving a smell. The Taihi container automatically sprays the accelerator mixture to decompose the waste. As a result, a liquid is formed, which is stored in an airtight watering can and compost, which is fed into a separate container.

The double lid system and set of rubber seals prevent odor and the container itself has an easy to clean finish. Unlike other composting systems, waste does not need to be turned and maintained in the right storage conditions.

To start fermentation, you need to add the bokashi mixture.

Containers for processing food waste using live worms (for example, the Worm Cafe by the Australian company Tumbleweed and the American VermiHut), as well as the automatic NatureMill, have already found their connoisseurs on the market.

Based on the bokashi technology, SCD Probiotics K100 containers (the composter is designed for 19 kg of food waste) and Urban composter are based.

Compost for garden fertilizer can be prepared at home. Making compost at home helps you capitalize on the huge amount of food waste that is usually thrown away.

Zealous owners, instead of throwing cleanings and cores in the trash, put them in a special container and fill them with composting liquid. The output is a high-quality organic product, on which you can grow indoor plants or use it as a fertilizer in the country.

What is compost

Compost is a fertilizer obtained from organic components as a result of their decomposition by microorganisms under aerobic conditions, that is, with air access. Compost can be made from any organic matter, including feces, household and industrial waste. After the decomposition of the components, the waste is converted into a substance containing macro- and microelements in a form accessible to plants: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, magnesium, boron and others.

Properly made compost has pleasant organoleptic characteristics. It is loose, homogeneous, does not stick to the hands, does not release moisture when compressed. Compost looks like a crumbly mass of dark color. It smells like fresh earth.

For composting you need:

• positive temperature;
• oxygen access;
• optimum degree of hydration.

There are many compost recipes in which superphosphate, gypsum, lime and other sometimes unexpected substances are added to organic matter. But ordinary compost is made from one organic matter. Such a mass is a universal fertilizer on which any cultivated plant will grow by leaps and bounds.

Usually, compost is prepared in a country house or a personal plot, on open-air sites. Organic waste is placed in a heap, heap or in a compost bin, from which it will be convenient to get it. The last condition is necessary, since the compost has to be mixed several times during the season so that there are no compacted places in the center of the heap that do not receive oxygen. Mixing compost accelerates maturation, that is, the decomposition of organic matter and the transformation of stems, leaves, branches and peelings into a homogeneous loose mass that does not resemble the smell and color of the raw material.

When does it make sense to make homemade compost? This can be useful for indoor flower lovers who want to feed plants with a natural substance. Or avid summer residents who can prepare several bags of fertilizer over a long winter, saving on buying humus or manure.

Types of compost

Peat manure compost made from peat and manure, taken equally. You can take any manure: horse, sheep, cattle, chicken and rabbit droppings. In addition to pigs - due to the nutritional characteristics of their manure, an exorbitant amount of nitrogen - this will spoil any soil.

Compost from sawdust and slurry- instant fertilizer. It can be used to fertilize plants a month and a half after laying the compost heap. For composting, slurry is poured between the sides of peat or sawdust. For 100 liters of slurry, 100 kilograms of bulk materials are used. After peat or sawdust absorb the slurry, a heap is formed from the mass, in which composting processes will immediately begin. It is useful to add phosphorus to the mixture at the rate of 2 kg of superphosphate per centner of organic matter.

Peat-fecal compost done like the previous one, but instead of slurry, the contents of country toilets are used. It will not work to replace peat with sawdust, since sawdust does not absorb odors so well. Such compost is not used on vegetables, but for the garden and perennial plantings, including ornamental crops, it is suitable.

No need to be afraid of helminthiasis. In the compost heap, the mixture is heated to 80 degrees. At this temperature, human helminths die along with eggs and larvae.

Garden multi-ingredient compost— universal fertilizer for gardens and orchards. For composting, garden waste is laid: weeds, cut shoots, fallen leaves, tops. The result is a black, odorless, fine-grained texture that is oily to the touch. As some gardeners say, looking at such compost, “I would eat it myself.”

In order for the composting process to produce good compost, the pile must be shoveled at least twice per season, moving to another place. Fertilizer will be ready in at least a year.

earth manure compost- instead of peat, they take ordinary earth. For 70 parts of manure there should be 30 parts of soil. Components are laid in layers. The soil will absorb the solution released from the manure and will not allow the nitrogen to "escape" from the manure heap as a gas (ammonia).

Manure-earthen compost contains 3 times more nitrogen than humus obtained by overheating manure in heaps. Having laid a manure and earthen heap in the spring, in the fall you can already get high-quality, highly nutritious compost.

To prepare compost in the apartment, you do not have to use peat or soil. One of the advantages of the technology is that compost can be made from kitchen waste alone. Fertilizer prepares itself. To prepare it, you do not need to buy anything special, except for a plastic bucket - that's why it is sometimes called " plastic compost».

Let's take a closer look at how to prepare compost in an apartment. Fertilizer matures in a suitable compost container under the action of a leaven from special microorganisms. At the bottom of the bucket you need to put a grate. The top of the container should be tightly closed with a lid. Experts call the fertilizer obtained in this way "Urgas".

Any food waste is suitable for composting: vegetable peelings, dried bread, banana peels, egg shells, melon peels, etc. The more components there are in the compost mixture, the higher the nutritional value.

For the production of compost in plastic buckets, protein products and fats are unsuitable: meat, fish (including bones), seeds, bones, sunflower seeds, nut kernels, dairy products.

Steps for making your own compost:

1. Place a rack in a plastic bucket.
2. Make 5 holes in the garbage bag with an awl - the liquid formed as a result of fermentation will drain through them.
3. Insert the bag into the bucket so that its bottom is on the grate.
4. Place food waste in a bag, crushing them so that the size of each piece is no more than 3 centimeters.
5. Lay the waste in layers, moisten each layer with a solution of the EM preparation from a spray bottle.
6. Squeeze the air out of the bag and place a load on top.
7. Fill the bag with waste as it accumulates in the kitchen.

EM liquid is a preparation containing strains of microorganisms that quickly decompose organic waste. Known EM fluids:

• Baikal,
• Urgas,
• Humisol,
• Tamir.

After filling the bag to the top (this can be done gradually, as kitchen waste accumulates), it is kept at room temperature for a week, and then transferred to the balcony.

By this time, liquid will accumulate at the bottom of the bucket - this is not a waste product, but a valuable substance enriched with bacteria that can be of great benefit in the household. After treating the toilet bowl or cat litter with this liquid, the unpleasant odor disappears. For the same purpose, liquid can be poured into sewer pipes. In addition, it is suitable for watering indoor plants.

Compost, obtained with the help of preparations at home, is taken to the dacha in the spring. By this time, a dozen or two plastic bags with urgaz accumulated on the balconies. It is applied to the beds in the same quantities as regular compost.

Features of compost preparation

Compost in the country can be prepared in a homemade composter, made in the form of a box, or in a converted old 200-liter metal barrel. Stores sell garden or landscape composters. They are neat containers with a lid that fit well into the surrounding landscape.

Composters can only be used in the warm season. When frost occurs, the container is freed from the contents.

Otherwise, a thermal composter is arranged - in such a device it is possible to process vegetation into fertilizer 365 days a year. Thermocomposters work even in frost. It is a large thermos, which accumulates the heat released during the decomposition of organic matter.

A vermicomposter is another composting tool available in stores. In it, not microorganisms, but soil worms will work on the production of compost, converting vegetation and kitchen waste into humus. Vermicomposter can be put at home, as it does not emit an unpleasant smell. Earthworms and Californian worms are used to decompose waste.

Composting in a heap or composter consists of several stages.

1. At the first stage - mesophilic- raw materials need to be moistened. Colonies of microorganisms can develop only in a humid environment. The more crushed raw materials, the more water will be required for moistening, but the compost will also mature several months faster. The fact that the mesophilic stage is completed will be indicated by the subsidence of the heap.
2. Second phase - thermophilic. The temperature rises in the heap. It can heat up to 75 degrees, while harmful bacteria and weed seeds die, and the pile decreases in size. The thermophilic phase lasts from 1 to 3 months. At the thermophilic stage, the compost heap needs to be shaken at least once after the temperature has dropped. After moving the mass to a new place, the temperature will rise again, as the bacteria will receive oxygen and increase activity. This is a normal process.
3. Third stage - cooling, it lasts 5-6 months. During this time, the cooled raw material overheats and turns into compost.

Compost conditions:

• The heap or composter is placed in the shade, as the sun will dry the ingredients and they will often have to be watered, doing extra work.
• It makes no sense to lay a small compost heap - with a lack of raw materials, bacteria will not be able to develop and the plants, instead of overturning and turning into fertilizer, will dry out.
• The optimal pile height is one and a half meters, width is a meter. Larger sizes make it difficult for oxygen to enter the heap and instead of aerobic bacteria, putrefactive bacteria will multiply there. That is, instead of fragrant crumbly compost, you get foul-smelling mucus.
• Throughout the season, compost any plant debris. If the plot is small and there is not enough weeds and tops for the volume of the heap, borrow from neighbors who did not guess to start a composter.

Is it possible to put weeds and cultivated plants with signs of disease, such as late blight-affected tomato leaves, into the compost? After heating in a compost heap, weed seeds and spores of harmful microorganisms lose their ability to germinate, so plant residues can be composted. The exception is plants affected by viruses. They need to be burned immediately after removal from the garden.

Sometimes it is advised to lay compost on a pillow of clay, peat or sand. If the heap is laid without faeces and slurry, then a pillow is not needed, as it will prevent earthworms from penetrating into the heap, and without them, the maturation of the compost will be delayed.

Microbiological preparations or bird droppings will help speed up the maturation of compost. Vegetable raw materials are either sprayed with liquid or transferred with moistened broiler manure. Such piles will have to be watered more often.

How to properly use compost

Compost in the country can be applied to all soils, for any crops, in the same dosage as humus. Mature compost is brought into the furrows when planting seedlings and sowing seeds. From it you can form high beds.

The most common way to use compost is to mulch everything from trees to lawns. The compost will serve as both food and mulch.

With the help of an ordinary aquarium aerator, compost tea can be made from compost - a liquid saturated with beneficial microorganisms. Compost tea is used for foliar top dressing. The liquid not only serves as a source of nutrients for plants, but also protects against fungal and bacterial diseases, since tea microorganisms are antagonists of pathological microbes.

The compost obtained in bags in winter is added to the mixture for growing seedlings. Seeds are not sown in pure compost, as it is a concentrate. But if you dilute it with peat or garden soil so that the compost in the mixture is 25-30%, then you get an optimal mass in terms of acidity, mechanical composition and nutrient content, in which any seedlings will grow.

Growing plants directly in compost is possible. Summer residents traditionally, right on the heap, sow cucumbers, pumpkins or gourds, but by this time the compost ripening should be completed.

A compost heap in which thermophilic processes take place can be used to obtain early crops of cucumbers. To do this, deep (40 cm) holes are made on the heated mass, they are covered with fertile garden soil, in which cucumber seedlings are planted. The reception allows you to make a race in the cultivation of vegetables for at least 1 month. If you put wire arcs on the compost heap and stretch a film over the plants, then you can get a crop 2 months earlier.

Compost is indispensable for growing carrots. Manure and humus should not be applied to the beds where carrots will be sown - because of them, the roots are deformed, take on an ugly shape, and branch. Compost is another matter. It can be applied even in the spring before sowing carrot seeds in the garden, at the rate of 2 kg per square meter. m.

Mulching with compost increases yield and improves the taste of vegetables and strawberries. Products acquire a pronounced taste typical of the variety, gaining more sugar.

By laying a compost heap on the site or installing a composting tank, you will create a waste-free production in which plant residues will return to the soil and it will never become scarce.

The EM container (bioutilizer of organic waste) is a mini factory for the production of an excellent fertilizer obtained by fermentation.

Thanks to the work of effective microorganisms in the container, not the process of decay occurs, but the enzymatic decomposition of kitchen (organic) waste. Already after 7-10 days, organic waste, on which EM settled, can be introduced into the aisles.

This container will help a family of 3-4 people get about 500 kg of wonderful fertilizer per year, which is many times more effective than rotted manure.

In many countries of the world, similar containers are used for the processing of various organic waste. For example, in the USA they are used not only at home, but also in schools and catering establishments.

The EM container has been awarded:

• diploma and silver medal of the international exhibition-congress “High technologies. Innovation. Investments, St. Petersburg, 2007,
• diploma and gold medal of the 8th Moscow International Salon of Innovations and Investments, Moscow 2008,

The EM container is designed for the fermentation of food waste.

EM container consists from a cylindrical 15-liter container, the bottom of which is raised to a height of 9 cm, so that it is convenient to drain the EM liquid. A cutout is made in the wall at the base on one side, above which there is access to a tap screwed into the bottom. Inside, above the bottom is a grate. There are inner and outer covers.

Before use, container needs to be collected. Why insert a tap into the tap hole so that the rubber sealing ring is outside, and put a nut on the tap thread from the inside. While holding the nut with your thumb, screw on the faucet and install it with the drain hole down. Place a rack at the bottom of the container

EM container usage:

As food () waste is formed, it is laid on a slatted bottom with a layer of 2-3 cm and abundantly moistened with a solution of the EM1 preparation at a concentration of 1:100. For a liter of non-chlorinated (or settled tap) water, 10 ml of the EM1 preparation is taken. An inner cover made of EM plastic is placed on top of the moistened layer. The lid works as an informational stabilizer for the fermentation process. It is also used for compacting compostable waste and only partially cuts off air. Then an outer lid is put on the container, completely blocking the access of air to the container. As necessary, new portions of waste are stacked in layers and moistened with a solution of the EM1 preparation. It is advisable to fold the waste once a day to limit the access of air inside the container. The appearance of a white coating on the surface of the waste is acceptable. Once every three days, it is necessary to drain the EM liquid that accumulates at the bottom of the container. When filling with kitchen waste, the container is emptied.

Waste fermented for 7-10 days can be immediately used as fertilizer, mixing with 20-40 parts of the earth. These wastes will be processed in the earth in 30 - 60 days. It is possible to fertilize fruit trees with fresh EM compost, burying it along the border of the tree crown. EM liquid can be used:

• for the fermentation of kitchen waste, diluting it 50 times, i.e. after establishing the fermentation mode, you can already use the EM liquid, and use the EM preparation 1-2 times a month;
• for processing organic waste (leaves, grass, manure). Waste is stored in layers of 15-25 cm and watered with a solution of EM liquid with a concentration of 1:100; in summer conditions, EM compost is processed into humus in 2 months;
• for draining into sinks, bathtubs and toilet bowls, which will lead to the destruction of fatty plugs, the removal of urinary stone;
• to eliminate odors and convert faeces from outdoor toilets into fertilizer. 250 ml is poured into one corner of the cesspool with a capacity of 2.5 cubic meters. The smell disappears in a week, after 3 months a fertilizer is obtained that does not contain not only pathogenic, but even conditionally pathogenic microorganisms. Those. feces make an excellent environmentally friendly fertilizer.
• water indoor plants once or twice a week with a solution of a concentration of 1:2000 - 1:1000 (a teaspoon - a tablespoon in a bucket of non-chlorinated water) and widely use in the country.

Fermented waste - EM compost can be stored in a separate area in layers, alternating layers of EM compost with a thickness of 10-15 cm and 2-3 cm layers of earth. In summer conditions, in 1.5 - 2 months it is completely processed into humus.

In winter conditions, fermented waste and EM liquid can be frozen. When warm, use in the country. If you use four-liter EM buckets with a sealed lid, you can store EM liquid in them for up to 7-14 days at room temperature. Kitchen organic residues can be accumulated in the EM bucket for the same period before being loaded into the EM container. The resulting EM compost, after it has been taken out of the EM container, can also be stored in an EM bucket for up to 2 weeks at room temperature. The use of EM-liquid is similar to the use of the EM1 preparation itself. With one caveat: EM liquid must be used within two to three days

Under organic waste recyclable means:

• waste from peeling vegetables, fruits,
• various wastes from cutting meat and fish, except for bones and scales,
• the remains of bakery products, flour, cereals and cereals, bran,
• soaked paper and cardboard,
• sawdust of hardwood trees (coniferous sawdust needs a higher concentration and should be mixed with other organic matter for better processing).

It is advisable to grind kitchen waste with a knife. Egg shells are not fermented, but can be added as fertilizer.

Russian version of the use of the EM container. It can be seen from the design of the container that it can be successfully used for pickling tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, and sauerkraut. With this use of the EM container, the outer lid is removed, the inner lid is turned over and the load is placed on it. This design is convenient in that as the pickles are taken out of the bucket, the brine can be drained.