School’s Composter Teaches Environmental Lessons While Reducing Food Waste

A school in Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) has installed a food composter that “digests” as much as 200 pounds of food waste a day – not including avocado pits and beef bones. Since November the small, quiet machine has processed 7,000 pounds, turning the waste into non-potable water. The Power Knot Liquid Food Composter uses food-grade plastic pellets with enzymes that help break down the food as it’s agitated in water. Major benefits of the machine: it has so far reduced the school’s trash disposal fees of about $1,400 by $300; it has kept a lot of food waste out of the landfill where decomposition would have created methane gas; and it teaches environmental lessons in recycling and ecology to the students. The water produced is drained away and can be used to water lawns and gardens. [ Liquid Food Composter, image credit: © Power Knot  ]