Solar Digesters / Food Waste Digestion
A solar digester is an eco-friendly way to deal with your food waste. Similar to composters, food-waste digesters accept household kitchen waste and leftovers. However, unlike composters, a solar waste digester's purpose is to allow the residue to seep back into the soil.
Solar digesters usually comprise of an upper bin and a lower decomposition basin. Food waste, such as leftovers, raw and cooked meat, bone, and pet waste, are fed into the upper bin. Solar digesters break down food through an accelerated aerobic process. The solar heat generated by the upper bin, combined with the oxygen passing through the bin and the worms and microorganisms in the bottom decomposition basin, create an active environment that expedites the break-down of organic matter. Within a matter of weeks, the material is broken down into a sludge, which is then seeps through the bottom basin, back into the environment. During this process, food waste digestion ensures that no waste is generated, no greenhouse gasses are emitted, and all nutrients are naturally broken down and returned back into the ground in an environmentally-friendly manner.
There are several popular models of solar waste digesters in the market. The Green Cone is a practical injection-molded model that is available for sale from a variety of municipalities. Another popular model is Algreen's Solar Digester. Similar to the Green Cone, Algreen's solar digester comes with both the upper bin and the lower basin. However, unlike the Green Cone, Algreen's solar digester is rotationally-molded to maximize both strength/durability, and aesthetics.
Solar waste digesters are entirely animal-proof- the opening in the upper bin is capped with a lid, and is sufficiently raised to deter small animals from entering. Algreen's solar digester, for example, comes with a screw-on upper lid.
Installation of Solar Digesters
Installation of solar digesters is easy! Both the Green Cone and Algreen's solar digester comes with a bottom basin that needs to be buried underground. After digging a sufficiently-sized hole, the bottom basin merely has to be inserted into the hole, and back-filled. The upper bin can then be affixed onto the basin using the fastening mechanisms provided.
[ Complete instructions for Algreen solar digester ]
Use of Solar Digesters / Food Waste Digestion
After it's installed, all you do is open the lid and empty your food wastes into the solar digester at the end of each day. When the temperature cools, a compost accelerator can be added to ensure that the decomposition process continues. Once every two or three years the remaining sludge may have to be emptied into the garden or soil.
