Solar powered composter? can you help?

[Percy]

A few months back i'm sure i saw somewhere advertised a solar powered composter. The problem is i cannot remember where i saw it. What i found interesting was it composted all foodstuffs including cooked food, meat and bones etc. it had small solar panel attached which, although i cannot remember specifics aided the heating progress to break things down a lot quicker. I have tried searching the internet but cannot find anything any where. Has anyone seen or heard of these before?

[Annpan]

You can use a 'green cone' they have a big, well, green cone, that sticks out of the ground and it is supposed to get petty hot in there for composting food stuffs

I use my normal compost bins... it can get pretty damned hot in a good sized one... I still don't put bones or pet poo in though.

[Shirley]

The green cones can take all kinds of waste but they don't give you anything back really - and you've got to dig a big hole too We've just got one - it only cost a tenner from our local council, so worth checking with your council if you do decide to get one.

I rather like the look of this one.... VERY expensive, but wonder if we could make a DIY version at home. http://www.ecopatio.com/shop/composter.html

We use a couple of compost bins (again, subsidised rate from the council) and these work well. Can't put bones and cooked food on them though, but otherwise they do what we need them to do.

[ellesherwood]

for extra heat try insulating with old carpet or polystryne. saves them from the tip and the extra heat really speeds things up.

[dave45]

. ..Can't put bones and cooked food on them though, but otherwise they do what we need them to do.

why not? what happens if you do?

[Millymollymandy]

You attract rats.

[Odsox]

. ..Can't put bones and cooked food on them though, but otherwise they do what we need them to do.

why not? what happens if you do?

You attract rats.

Also in a normal composter the bones would never break down, so you would eventually be spreading bones on your garden and that would attract even more rats.
Plus cooked meat products break down to nasty toxins which is not a good idea to spread around.

[dave45]

well I've been doing it for 30 years :-)

rats abound around these parts anyway.. the rat catcher guy I employed once told me their natural food was fruit and nuts, but they'd actually eat anything (so you'd better not put your applecores in either then!)... bones are easy to extract once they've been through the heap .. just wazz them through the garden shredder >> bonemeal ! why old bones would attract rats more than applecores is beyond me.

[snapdragon]

Green Cone digests food waste but gives you no compost
but Green Johanna gives compost and composts all food waste including meat and bones as long as you have 30% garden waste with it
It's what my council are offering and I'm going to be trying it out

http://www.greencone.com/ check out your country/postcode -
I just checked my sisters area - and it's even cheaper there

[sunnybp]

Dog, cat and chicken also can consume some waste food.

[Greenbeast]

bokashi all the way!

we put ALL food waste in our bokashi bin, cooked and uncooked.

There are threads on it and plenty of info on the web.
The kits can cost £50+ for a two bucket system, but i bought 2 x 15l bait buckets, some barrel taps, 1kg of bokashi bran and made up some screens for the bottom of the buckets to let the liquid through our of acrylic/perspex off-cuts with the laser cutter at work. that cost me £15 all in!