Queensland worm farmer invents solar powered compost machine

A Queensland worm farmer believes she has invented the world’s first commercially-produced solar powered compost machine. “It certainly is, yes, and we are happy to say it has been designed here in Australia and running entirely on solar,” said Penny Mitchell, from Palmwoods on the Sunshine Coast. Waste material is put into two bins that rotate with the power of the sun, breaking down the matter with time. Ms Mitchell said the market for solar powered compost bins was environmentally conscious businesses that wanted to reduce their carbon footprint. “We are getting quite a bit of interest, we have had …

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Compost could be harnessed for clean energy production

A 2015 Churchill Fellowship recipient says his research has shown there is huge potential to generate clean energy from compost. Gippsland Water agribusiness manager Jono Craven has just completed his fellowship report, titled ‘The Investigation of Effective Recycling of Urban and Agricultural Waste to Provide Positive Outcomes for Agriculture’. Mr Craven said he adopted the topic to try and work out how to get better agricultural results out of compost. He travelled to Israel, the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the US and Canada to research best practice compost production. “Before I left I saw varying results through the use …

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