The Urban Compost Bin

2010-02-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

Our plan was to create an urban compost bin. The materials we picked were two projectors, a fan, some window trimming, two filters, and some pipe tubing. The idea was to put the projectors together to make a larger container, which the compost would sit in. Inside, a filter would separate the compost from the fan area where we kept the fan from one of the projectors. The larger fan would be used to power the smaller fan and ventilate the compost. Another filter would be placed in the smaller fan to filter the smell of decaying compost. This apparatus would be self sufficient and wind-propelled.

We had a few problems with our project, as we did not have sufficient resources to create the idea we envisioned. In order to put the projectors together we needed some sort of tool to cut them apart, which we did not have access to. What’s more, we had no way to power the ventilation fan. The idea was to connect the large and small fans with a sort of a belt. While the belt was not a problem (the tubing was wrapped in a soft rubber material), we were unable to fashion an axle for the small fan.

We were unaware that, since we were a group of two Consumer Science majors, we were unable to use tools contained in the Engineering department, limited to the small amount of tools each of us owned. In our opinion, if we had been able to use a broader range of tools, our project would have been completed.

The idea for our project in itself could be very beneficial to society and help reduce the amount of garbage the average household produces. We feel people in urban environments fail to compost organic garbage because of the smell that is inherent with decaying compost. The advantage comes in that our product would be ventilated by a small fan, and the air exiting the device would be filtered. That way, people could have compost without the constant smell of decay. Moreover, the product has a magnifying element in the lid which would increase heat gained from sunlight, thus expediting the decay process.

Urban Compost Bin, Stage 1

Urban Compost Bin, Stage 2

Urban Compost Bin, the Demise