Green Cone Installation & Use: My Story so far

Cabaal

This is something I've posted in green issues before but I figure its relevant to gardening too and might help out some people who already have a green cone or it might encourage people to get one

Copy of below is on my blog also http://www.cabaal.org/log/labels/going%20green.html

Anyway:
July 2008
So awhile back I posted regarding my recent purchase of a efergy electricity monitor which I'm hoping to use to keep an eye on whats using power and making me conscious of costs. So far so well with this device but since I have a garden in the house which is something I didn't have in my flat I wanted to go more green when it comes to my rubbish.

In the area we have two company's that will collect recycled items (paper, plastic etc) and non-recyclable items such as plastic wrap etc but I've found that while we have little to no non-recyclable items we have so far ended up getting rid of what we have pretty quickly as it starts to smell.

Well the reason for this is of course food and unfortunately with a normal food composters you can't put meat and cook food into it as its not designed for such things, so with this in mind I did abit of re-search and came up with a Green Cone food digesture.

The green cone takes meat, fish, bread, bone etc and uses bacteria and worms to break down the food into water etc so its re-absorbed by the ground around it, I just spent yesterday digging the hole required for it and its all good to go now...its a pretty big hole considering the large black basket MUST be fully buried for the green cone to work.

So here's some photos of before, during and after installation of the cone, I'll keep you all posted on how I get on using it.






August 2008
You may all remember awhile ago I posted about a food digesture I installed in my garden, well with all the bad weather and due to poor soil drainage the digesture started to fill with water upto 1ft+ deep.

As the greencone stops working when it fills with this much water this is very bad! So I had to do some re-engineering work on it to solve the problem.

First off I've learned the greencone does a very good job and not smelling because when I dug it out it smelled awful but as soon as it was buried again it was fine and even if you stood within 6 inches of it you wouldn't smell a thing once the lid is closed.

So after a days work, lots of gravel and new clay as well as wooden pegs I've come up with this....




November 2008
The third update on my plan to reduce our household waste costs and to improve on the amount of material we recycle, so far the layout is as follows:
- Plastic covered box for cans & glass
- Two 80ltr bins for recyclable material (paper, plastic etc)
- One 90ltr bin to stockpile about 4-5 weeks of non-recycle material
- One greencone for food stuffs

So how it works is about once a month I need to do a run to empty the two 80ltr bins and about once every 4-5 weeks I need to empty the 90ltr non-recyle bin which doesn't tend to smell because all foodstuff that cause the smells goes into my greencone

Overall this costs me €6 to dispose of all my rubbish which is a good saving over the €25 monthly fee I'd have to pay to a waste pickup company.

So far so good and I'm impressed with how the system works so far, the initial outset for implementing my green waste plan were kinda high though:
- €145.00 for greencone
- €20 for 80ltr bin
- €20 for 90ltr bin
- €20 for plastic box
Total: €205

When compared to what I'd have to pay for a monthly pickup for the same material (12 x €25) €300, so after the first 12 months I'll really feel the savings

I hope I've helped to inspire others to try this as well.




September 2009
This is the forth and I hope final installment in relation to my experiences using a green cone in my home, the previous installments can be read here.

To sum things up I had to abandon all previous plans as the green cone just kept flooding and in the end during May 2009 I had to stop using it completely so I could re-install it.

So to reinstall it I first had to remove it and what an awful fun job that was, the basket at the end was full of sludge and smelled awful. Once this was taken out I then refilled the hole that the green cone was in and I made sure to have the greencone completely above ground,.

Now the green cone instructions say that a bucket of water should train away within a max of 30min, since the redesign its draining within seconds so all is good so far.

Here's the finished re-design in all its glory...lets hope this is the last time I do this

sdp

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but have been looking at the green cone this weekend, my family are all thinking of getting one, are you still using it? did it work after your last design?
Would love to hear how it went for you, before we all buy one.
Thank you
. please feel free to move this post if now in right place.

rje66

sdp wrote: »

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but have been looking at the green cone this weekend, my family are all thinking of getting one, are you still using it? did it work after your last design?
Would love to hear how it went for you, before we all buy one.
Thank you
. please feel free to move this post if now in right place.

Ive been using one for about 5 years. Two of us in the house and never emptied,but had to stop using for a while as it was full to lid.
Points to consider
Make sure ground under it is free draining, it WILL NOT WORK if its compacted soil or clay.
Site where it will get sun
Add in a compost excelarator frequently
I added brandling worms, I see them yhe odd time.
It shouldnt smell at all, I put in fish, meat etc and never got a smell
It will fill very quickly if you put in bulky things like cabbage .
Hope this helps.

sdp

Thank you so much, very helpful,
I have a normal compost bin, so would be splitting the raw foods between the two,
is afternoon and evening sun ok?, do you thing, as I have nowhere where gets sun all day,
Thanks again

Supercell

How close to the house would you put one of these?, I'd be concerned that it would be a magnet for rodents? I had a compost before that I had to get rid of for exactly that reason

rje66

Supercell wrote: »

How close to the house would you put one of these?, I'd be concerned that it would be a magnet for rodents? I had a compost before that I had to get rid of for exactly that reason

mine is appox 3m from front door never had a problem. These are pretty much sealed units, its 1/2 buried so access underground is not poss . and any food at bottom of unit will have composted so much it will be a thick watery sludge. The lid fits tight so no access there.

@SDP I put in raw,cooked, rotten .....everything goes in. afternoon sun should be fine . heat helps in the process so more heat= faster composting:D

sdp

Great, thank you so much for all your help