Compost Machine

In: all cooked and raw food waste, vegetable and fruit peel, bones, eggshells, tea and coffee grounds, garden trimmings, flowers and leaves. Out: plastic, glass, metal, cloth, ceramics, sanitary waste and large quantities of oil or liquid. Non-organic items do not decompose and will damage the shredder assembly.

No, when it is working correctly. The process is aerobic — microbes are supplied with oxygen — and aerobic decomposition does not produce the odour compounds people associate with rotting waste. The machine is also a closed system with a bio-filter on the exhaust. Smell almost always means either overloading, too much liquid, or a blocked air path, and all three are correctable.

The connected load ranges from 2 KW on a 10–25 Kg per day unit to 6 KW on a 200 Kg per day machine. Actual consumption is lower than connected load because the heater and motor cycle on and off rather than running continuously. For most societies and hotels the monthly electricity cost is a small fraction of what they were paying for waste haulage.

With routine maintenance a well-built machine runs for well over a decade. The parts that wear are the shredder blades, the drive belts and the seals — all replaceable. Body material decides most of the lifespan: SS 304 resists the constant moisture and salts far better than painted mild steel, which is why we recommend it for coastal and high-humidity sites.

Daily: load it, remove the output, keep the feed area clean. Monthly: check the bio-filter and clear the air path. Periodically: inspect blades and belts for wear and top up composting culture. None of this is technical work — housekeeping or kitchen staff handle it after the training we give at commissioning. An AMC covers the mechanical servicing.

Yes, once it has been cured. Material coming straight out of the machine is stabilised but still active, and using it immediately can stress plants. After 10 to 15 days in curing bins it becomes mature, nutrient-rich compost suitable for gardens, landscaping, or bagging and sale. Most of our institutional clients use it on their own grounds.

It depends on what constrains you. Vermicomposting has almost no capital cost but needs weeks, shaded space, and worms that are sensitive to temperature swings and to cooked or oily food. A machine costs money upfront but processes in a day, accepts cooked food and bones, needs a fraction of the space, and does not stop working in summer. For an apartment complex or a hotel kitchen the machine is usually the only practical option.

Under Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, bulk waste generators — broadly, premises producing 100 Kg or more of waste per day or campuses above 5,000 sq. m — are required to process wet waste on site. Many municipal corporations enforce this through occupancy and trade licence conditions.

Estimate 0.3 to 0.5 Kg of wet waste per person per day, then choose a machine that runs at 60 to 80 per cent of its rated capacity on an ordinary day. Better still, weigh your wet waste bins for three normal days and average them — that single measurement is more reliable than any formula and is what stops buyers over-paying for capacity they never use.

Compost machine price in India starts at ₹75,000 for a 10–25 Kg per day unit and goes up to ₹9,50,000 and above for a 500 Kg per day industrial machine. Between those two, the figure depends on body material, automation level and site conditions more than on capacity alone.

Yes, and most are. Because it is closed and odour-free, machines are routinely installed in hotel back-of-house corridors, hospital service areas and residential basements. What the location needs is a level base, the right power supply, a water point, drainage, and about 3 ft of clearance on the service side.