Waste Digestion

We have been producing too much garbage lately.
Of course, I always say that when I'm the one taking our waste to the dump.
Most of our kitchen waste goes to the animals.
There is quite a lot of recyclable waste.
But there is an organic component that goes into the garbage,
and that needs to change.

I did build a composter several years ago.
It is still empty.
It's not that we have been throwing all of our compostable waste into the garbage, but that some material is unfit for animal consumption, and also unsuitable for the composter.
The township is coming down hard on the local waste production,
and I am glad they are.
In the meantime, we need to keep all of our organic waste.

So Kira picked up a digester in town today.
It is similar to a composter, but it accepts all organic waste,
including meat and bones.
We should be able to toss anything in there, as long as it will break down.
It also requires less maintenance than a typical compost bin.
We'll see.

The county is encouraging the cottagers to use these since a compost bin attracts bears, and the digesters are not supposed to attract any animals at all, as long as they are working properly.
It's claimed that odour doesn't escape.
Though a bear has a phenomenal sense of smell.
But bears are not my concern.

The problem with the composter I built is that it's too far from the kitchen.
There needed to be a special trip made to empty the pail, and it is often neglected.
The digester is near the bottom of the stairs, so it is a shorter and easier trip.
If you notice the carefully placed rock in the above photo, it has a specific purpose.
Auren has been given a job to call his own.
It's his responsibility to empty the waste pail into the digester.

There is no reason why we can't reduce our total waste no virtually nothing.
In fact, nothing should really be our goal.
Even the recycled goods should be brought to a bare minimum.
The key to waste reduction is preventing wasteful items from coming onto the property in the first place.
That is not so easy, for several reasons.
Organic waste should never leave the property.
It is stored energy after all, and it needn't be wasted.
I'll let you know how this unit works.


In the meantime, I really need to teach the chickens how to dig holes.