15/04/2025
Bin Composting/ Drum Composting:
This is a very common form of managing kitchen waste through aerobic composting. Depending on the design and capacity, it takes between 25 days to 60 days to get high quality compost.
Main challenge of handling kitchen waste to horticulture waste:
Kitchen waste has moisture content upto 80-90%. For ideal composting environment, moisture level should be below 45%. As aerobic bacteria starts working, they separate excess liquid from the bio mass. This black liquid called leachate is actually very good fertilizer for the plants and can be diluted in the ratio of 1:10 and then applied in plants as soil supplement. Otherwise it may be simply drained out as well.
Also kitchen waste needs to be segregated from plastic wrappers and anything which is not organic.
Another challenge is that it contains in addition to raw vegetable peels processed food as well such as expired namkeen, biscuits, stale food etc. Processed food of any type takes longer to decompose than raw vegetable peels.
Bin Composting Design:
There are several designs which are available in the market with each having their own pros and cons. No single design can be called as perfect, but can fulfill the requirements of the user.
In some bin composters, there is place at the bottom to collect leachate/ drain out. This is very important part of the process. Otherwise it will start decomposing and will emit foul smell. Also it may become source of diseases.
In some other bin/ drum composters, to offset excess moisture coco peat/ saw dust in equal measure. There is one additional benefit of using saw dust/ coco peat, as it gets converted in high quality compost. Most of the raw vegetable leftovers are actually get eaten by enzymes and hardly any material is left for making compost.
How to decide the size of the compost bin:
An average household generates approx 800 gms of waste daily. So for a family, minimum of 30 litres volumetric capacity compost bin is sufficient. If we are doing calculation for a community/ centralized waste management, then calculation should be at least 1000-1200 gms of waste per household. This is required to factor in excess amount of waste being generated in an event held in any of the household in the community. Also you can add sone extra quantity of horticulture waste as well.
Sadabahar Garden Tower with Composter:
This is a unique design created to serve dual purposes of vertical gardening in limited spaces as well as composting kitchen waste.
In limited spaces of 50 cms, you can grow upto 55 plants and also convert kitchen waste in high quality compost.
To tackle the problem of leachate, the compost pipe has holes all around the surface. Plants roots can directly absorb moisture/ leachate from the compost pipe. Also there is water collection tray at the bottom of the unit, to collect leachate and excess water used for plants.
Aesthetics, durability and ease of handling were main factors while designing garden tower.
Unit has been provided with industrial castor wheels with each wheel having 100 kg load bearing capacity (total set of three wheels with one brake wheel).
This garden tower has been accepted by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Pusa IARI as part of their incubation program. We have also received grant from Ministry of Agriculture, GOI for this innovation.
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This unit is delivered as a complete kit and as a stand alone unit both. As kit, 25 kg vermi compost and 01 coco peat brick is delivered.
Sadabahar Garden Tower with Composter model is being delivered all across India at a nominal price of Rs 8500 including shipping and GST.
For any queries in customization of waste management solution depending on capacity, space availability, design customization and end use objective, please reach out to us at 098188 17268 and 7678644492.
Regards, Shishir Agrawal
Urban Plants and SA Smart Solutions
