Ridan Catering Food Waste Composter Operating Instructions
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Ridan Operating Instructions. The Ridan is an in-vessel constant throughput, thermal, food waste composter, meaning that as food waste is loaded at one end and the handle is rotated, it heats up and travels through the Ridan, composting in stages, before automatically emerging from the outlet at the other end. Daily Operation Summary. 1/ Remove the lid. 2/ Tip your food waste in (cut up large chunks, avoid excessive fluids) 3/ Add the same volume of woodchip, sawdust or woodshavings. 4/ Place a bucket under the outlet 5/ Turn the handle at least five full turns 6/ Replace the lid 7/ Empty the compost from the bucket into a maturation bin. Detailed Guidance Installation The Ridan can be installed anywhere, inside or outside, all it needs is a firm surface to stand on bearing in mind that when full it can weigh up to half a ton. For reasons of hygiene a hard easy to clean surface is preferable as any dropped food which cannot be cleaned up will attract vermin, so keep the Ridan clean. If installation on a lawn is unavoidable use slabs under the legs to spread the weight ensuring that the Ridan is level, and use extra slabs where operators will stand in order to avoid muddy patches. Access The Ridan is 2.4 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.5 meters high, so ensure that there is enough room around it to turn the handle, load food waste and empty the compost, a wheelbarrow can be used for this. Location Consider where the waste is being generated and where the compost will be used, carrying either very far can become a chore, so think about positioning the Ridan and the maturation box close together. Also consider that composting can smell; when working properly the smell will be minimal and not unpleasant (a yeasty fermenting smell) but at some point you will get the mix wrong and it will smell bad, so site the Ridan away from neighbours and living spaces. Ridan can supply an optional vent pipe assembly where necessary, to exhaust fumes overhead if required. What can you put in ? All food waste, raw and cooked, meat, dairy and fish, plus garden weeds, pruning’s and grass clippings and shredded cardboard. Small chunks compost more easily so cut up whole fruit, vegetables, large bones, shells or big lumps before loading and they will break down more quickly. Chopping can be done in the kitchen, or in a bucket with a spade before loading. Avoid too much liquid such as gravy, custard, soup etc, also don’t try to compost paper or plastic plates and cups as they won’t compost and can cause blockages. The Mix The proportions are easy to get right very quickly, you simply need half 'brown' material like woodchip and half 'green' food waste, so if you put in one bucket of food waste you must also add one bucket of woodchip, it's that simple! For aerobic composting to happen, Nitrogen (food waste) Carbon (woodchip) and Oxygen (airflow) are required in the right proportions. Raw fruit and vegetable waste compost easily, so it is best to start with these, then add cooked waste when the Ridan is up to temperature. When up to temperature the Ridan draws air through the chamber extracting excess moisture as it does so, this promotes faster hotter composting, so getting it hot is the key. It is easy to see the steam and feel the heat at the inlet when the Ridan is working, but in order to monitor the process regularly a simple thermometer with probe is a useful composting tool, these are available from Ridan. Raw fruit and vegetable matter such as peelings, skins, cores, tops, tails and leaves are an important ingredient in the mix and should form roughly one third of the mix by volume in order to make the Ridan work properly. If such ingredients are in short supply from the kitchen, then green garden waste such as grass clippings, weeds and green pruning’s can be added to obtain the correct ratio. Hot Stuff! Composting produces heat and the Ridan controls this using airflow and insulation, it needs to be hot to work so your aim is to see steam rising when you open the lid. It can take a few weeks to heat up, but it will when the conditions are right and then you are off, all it will need from then on is a regular supply of mix, and a regular turn or two. If the waste mix and turning stops for a few days or weeks during holidays etc, the Ridan will cool down, but don't worry, the micro-organisms will still be there ready for the next feed when they will get to work once again and heat up very quickly. Start Up Using equal proportions of food waste and woodchip start loading the Ridan through the inlet, along with some fresh compost if available. Airflow is important, so don’t overfill, there should always be an air gap over the waste at the bottom of the loading inlet, always replace the lid as this regulates airflow correctly. Turn the Ridan at least once a day, six full turns are enough, more is better; as it fills up, place a bucket under the outlet to catch the throughput, initially this can be recycled back into the inlet. Watch the temperature, it can take two to three weeks for things to get hot and really start working, so be ready. Rapid composting happens best at temperatures of over 50 degrees centigrade, the raised temperature promotes aerobic reactions within the mix giving excellent living conditions for the active microbes. So the first target is to get the mix hot. Woodchip You will need a supply of dry woodchip in order to get composting quickly, fresh, dry woodchips work best; we can supply these until you locate a local source. Equally good are wood pellets as supplied for fuel, these will have to be bought, but can be delivered; come in bags and being very dry you can use proportionally less, in fact a ratio of 6:1 can be used meaning that the cost will be only about £2 per week, a good supplier is http://www.ecowoodpellets.co.uk/. If green tree surgery waste is being used as a carbon source, proportionally more will be required as the water content will be relatively high, so please store it under cover. Tree surgery waste can usually be sourced locally for free, so it is the cheapest and greenest carbon source, however it can be wet and large chips will take a long time to break down remaining in the compost for some time. So wood pellets (as supplied as a fuel) may be preferable, as they are convenient, cheap and very dry meaning that much less volume is required and the compost produced when using wood pellets will be more friable. Paper, tissue and card can be added in small proportions, however most contain synthetic materials which won’t compost and may even harm the bacteria so use only in moderation and monitor the results. If it stays cold If the mix remains cold after a week or two, check the following. 1/ The mix should be airy and moist like a fruit cake mix, if it is heavy wet and solid like cold porridge then you need to add more dry woodchip to absorb moisture and aerate the mix. The paddles within the Ridan should pass through the mix, aerating it, not turning it as a solid soggy lump. 2/ If the mix looks good airy and crumbly but cold, add some fresh greens such as uncooked fruit or vegetable waste, grass clippings, or weeds from the garden. 3/ Ensure that there is always a clear air gap over the mix and around the inlet, overfilling will block this preventing airflow meaning that the Ridan will cool down and become hard to turn. 4/ If still cold please contact RidanInfo@gmail.com with full details and pictures so that we can advise you. If it smells There will be some smell, but it should not be unpleasant or excessive. However if it stinks then the food waste is rotting simply because insufficient carbon is being added. So just add more woodchip, sawdust, wood pellets or similar. Hygene. Food waste that has passed through the Ridan, composting as it goes, and then matured for a few weeks in a maturation box will become clean compost which is safe and pleasant to handle. However any spilt food waste left lying around will quickly attract rodents, flies, wasps and other pests. So keep the Ridan and the composting area clean, the same goes for any buckets, caddies, shovels and barrows being used. The Ridan is rodent proof, but please don’t leave buckets or barrows under the outlet as they could be used as a handy ladder! Free Compost. Gradually as the Ridan gets full, compost will emerge from the outlet so place a bucket or wheelbarrow there to catch it as you turn the wheel, it should be dark, moist and have an earthy smell. The composting process will break down the food waste reducing its volume so that the resulting compost mixture will have a high concentration of carbon rich woodchip, which is not suitable for immediate use on the garden. So you can either sieve the compost to remove the larger lumps of woodchip und use it immediately as a mulch, or simply leave it to mature when over time the woodchip will break down to form a fine rich compost. Maturation. This is the final stage, and may not be necessary if low volumes of food waste are being composted through the Ridan. However in most cases what emerges will benefit from a period of maturation so that the secondary cooler stage can be completed using a maturation box. This is simply a large box, of about one cubic meter capacity which offers some insulation in order to retain any heat produced; it should also be rodent proof as there may well still be some attractive morsels in the compost mix. Maturation boxes are usually used in pairs so that one can be maturing whilst the other is being filled and so on. Worms will find their way into maturation boxes, they will mix and aerate the contents to produce a fine friable compost, check periodically to ensure that the compost remains moist and add water if required. After about 3 months of maturation you will have lovely rich compost. Operator. The key to successful composting is having a single dedicated and keen operator. It is important that the process is overseen and monitored by one person regularly, as any variations in the mix or the operation will have an effect on the output, after a while this becomes intuitive, so using a group rotor system is not a good plan. Composting food waste is not a clean, catering spec process, so it is usually handled best by gardeners and groundsmen who appreciate the high quality compost produced, rather than catering staff who need to keep very clean. Care and Maintenance. The Ridan has been built to last and as such will give years of reliable service if looked after. So keep the outside clean and don’t use excessive force when turning the handle, don’t try to compost inappropriate items such as paper plates or cups as these can cause blockages.
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