Actium Resources began designing and manufacturing composters in 2010. Our main customers have been poultry farmers. They wanted a way to better dispose of regular mortalities that occur on their farms. Soon we realized there was a lot of potential to compost food waste. We strongly believe that food waste should be avoided if at all possible. We fully support all emerging initiatives that focus on reducing food waste. However, given that these may not be feasible in some circumstances, we offer equipment that composts food waste.
Similarities of Composting Food Waste and Poultry Mortalities
- Food waste and poultry mortalities occur regularly over a period of time. Although there may be surges in the amount available to be composted, for the most part it is the same day after day.
- Food waste and poultry mortalities can both can be quite unpleasant if not taken care of immediately. Neither improves with age. Both can attract unwanted visitors such as rodents, birds and flies. Composting in one of our rotating food waste composters eliminates all of these problems. Scavengers do not have access to the material inside our solid steel drums. The temperature created by composting in our insulated drums means that flies cannot breed inside them.
- The alternatives to disposing of food waste and livestock mortalities is becoming more expensive. It is not always convenient. So it can be expensive in both time and money. By composting on-site with an Actium Compost Drum, food waste can be taken care of immediately.
- Composting food waste and poultry mortalities produces a useful, nutrient rich soil amendment.
More Benefits of Composting Food Waste
- Food waste does not need to be processed before putting it into the Actium Food Waste Composter. The composting process is aggressive enough in our drums to break down most particle sizes. Recently, I was told by a customer that whole potatoes took a very long time to break down in their Actium Food Composter. The same would be true for other large vegetables like turnips.
- There is no need to sort meat, bones or fat from the food waste to be composted. They can be put into our food composter as is. And they don’t need to be chopped up. We compost entire dead birds in the same compost drum! The composting micro-organisms will benefit from having these in the mixture. And again, they do not attract animals when they are in the steel drum.
- Composting food waste greatly reduces greenhouse gas production. Methane (CH4) is emitted during the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills. Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period. (US EPA) Putting less food waste into landfills results in less landfill gas production.
- Less fuel is used to transport the food waste away from where it is produced. And less harmful emissions are produced. By putting it directly into our food composter, this transportation step can be eliminated.
- In many cases, the compost produced can be used where the food waste is produced. A rooftop garden is using one of our Batch Composters to turn their vegetable and plant trimmings into compost. Composting reduces the need to purchase expensive fertilizers, as the compost itself is a natural and effective fertilizer. Their need to purchase expensive fertilizers and soil is reduced as the compost itself is a natural and effective fertilizer.
- Compost can help retain moisture in soil, reducing the need for frequent watering.
Poster For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington DC, 1942
Price 25¢ for a set of 10