You will need 2 or more spiral blades on the axis. The blades will rotate, not the drum. This will mix as well as chop.
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A more involved design will use two sets of counter rotating blades.
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zero waste is a goal, and we cannot reach 100% waste to 0% waste in one day. Start with what is immediately tangible. If some things are taking time, we will take time to investigate and find a solution. Till then, let us do 20% waste.
If you are living in a colony, we can have one drum for a family of 4 for composting. It is good to get five people to reach 50% waste than one person reaching 0% waste.
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Right sir @GN. I am just trying myself first to see how many difficulties are their. Initially my goal was to do with my school friends upto 30 friends, but no one shown interest and not replied so, I started doing by myself. Their are some interested people after this post, but they are not collecting waste due to bad smell of kitchen waste. We can start this by collecting only dry waste like seperation for plastic and paper it will be beneficial and we can reach at least near to 20% towards zero garbage.
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If you have any reference please share the photo or diagram. We have axis in drum so blade will remain stable on axis and drum will rotate.
Interesting update is that it’s been 9 days I am collecting waste. Due to use of 
lemon, 
orange pills, tulsi leaves 
, 
cow dung, soil and water the bad smell is not coming. This drum is better than our traditional dustbin in case of bad smelling.
I am trying to collect more useful ingredients like bio culture which will help us to make composting from that we can simplify this process. Then we initiate more people towards zero garbage.
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[center]This is the drum on 9 Dec with waste it is now very heavy.[/center]
[center]
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" it is now very heavy."
You will have to process in small batches. To pulverise the waste the blades have to move at speed as it is working only against the inertia of the waste pieces. Hence the power required to move the blades is substantial. If you are manually rotating you will need a large gear driving a smaller gear on the shaft. Take a look at paper shredder mechanisms.
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The smell can also be controlled by adding dry grass, and not to add boiled rice, other boiled vegetables with lots of water content. Keep the drum aerated once in a while. If due to some reason water gets in, you should try to drain it.
The picture of our drum maintained by @vcs, who is our neighbor.
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Small tip: I have read and seen some home composters blend the vegetable peels prior to depositing it in composter. That way, you save time by not having to chop all the vegetables. Even a 5 second blend reduces all the big pieces to small.
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Tip for plastic waste: One can opt for making “plastic bricks” which is a space saving method which has potential for reuse/upcycle. The problem I had with plastic waste is that we clean and collect them. But storing large amounts is a problem. So you can use PET bottles to stuff clean plastic into the bottle (see: Bottle Bricks | Engineering For Change)
I had tried this once, I could stuff 1.5 months worth of plastic in one bottle. And they are quite sturdy. The “plastic bricks” may be collected over time to design a piece of furniture (stool, chair)
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I am posting this on behalf of Dr. Ankush Gupta.
Suggestions for enhancing composting rate and reducing smell problems:
- 1 spoonful of buttermilk can be added as microbial culture to the compost pile.
- Adding dry leaves or dry old compost also helps to reduce smell by reducing excessive moisture or water logging, which is one of the prime cause of foul smell. Old compost also acts as source of microbial culture.
- For composting plant waste (more dry leaves and grass), a dilute solution of jaggery can be used.
- A generic use microbial culture can be prepared by taking 1 spoon of what flour, 1 spoon of besan (gram flour), small piece (1-2 cm3) of jaggery, and few drops of vinegar, and mix it with about half a litre water. Keep this in a closed container (but it should not be air tight) for about 10-14 days. Many microbes will grow in it. After that stir the solution and spray in small amounts over compost pile. This culture can be stored and used for days.
Sometimes if you are not able to chop the vegetable into small pieces due to lack of some, it can be added as such to the compost pile. After 2-3 days, it become soft due to bacterial decay. Then using a stick, this piece of vegetable can be crushed, which will aid in further composting.
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Ok @jtd
I am moving it manually. I will look for shredder mechanism.
I think if we make small pieces or any other method in one drum it will be fine. I am now proceeding in small batches. Putting other waste open for 2-3 days like fruit peels and for vegetables half vegetables I am putting open and half in tumblr
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Thank you for this information.
In this, now I am doing 3 points like using dry leaves, using soil, dung and grass and also I am keeping fruits and vegetables in open it had got whitish fungi layer and it is very soft and I can now crush it easily.
Today in morning I have included old waste.
Once again thanks for that receipe of culture
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Ok @GN.
I kept drum open throughour the day and also rotate it in morning, to relase and generate air flow. I am now just adding vegetables and remaining tea powder in it.
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Thank for the advice. Please share your plastic collection photo and small post related to your work which will help us
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Do the microbes cone from the air?
If so does areating the solution speed up or improve the compost?
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Yes sir due to rotating it generates more oxygen in Tumblr and releases false smell
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Yes, in this setup, there are two sources of microbes; air and the microbial culture suggested by @GN.
Aerating the solution/compost/mixture will do good!
It will homogenise the mixture. Adding microbial culture in the form of the solution mentioned by @GN will speed up the growth of microbes. There are chances that the microbes present in the microbial culture won’t be present in mixture/compost beforehand.
Addition of it will help in both ways.
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So I did this in 2017-18. I collected my plastic waste for a year or so. And then collaborated with a local NGO who designed different types of bags, which I later tested for durability. It is not the best solution to tackle plastic waste. But it does help to increase the life (use) of the plastic.
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