A business spun out of a Queensland worm farming company is getting a wriggle on with production of OSCA; the solar powered on-site composting apparatus.
OSCA is an automated, aerobic composting device developed by Queensland company, WDU Sustainability; an offshoot of Worms Down Under.
Composting can be a bit of a tricky affair; particularly when dealing with nitrogen and protein-rich materials. If the waste doesn’t get enough air, things can get really stinky, really quickly through the action of anaerobic bacteria.
To keep air flowing through the material, OSCA’s drums rotate – and that’s where the solar panels atop the device come into play; providing power for the rotation.
OSCA processes organic waste into a high quality, safe compost within just 10 – 14 days.
“OSCA is a continuous feed system – waste is loaded in one end and finished compost ejected from the other. OSCA is silent in operation and the specially designed bio-filter makes it odourless. The unit is very easy to use and maintain,” says WDU Sustainability.
Sunshine Coast Airport installed an OSCA system earlier this year and other systems have been installed since at locations including Griffith University’s Southbank Campus and Logan Campus.
A unit such as the one installed at Sunshine Coast Airport can divert up to 26 tons of organic waste a year from landfill.
“We have actually reduced significantly the amounts of trucks we have going to landfall and we have had to double the amount of trucks going to the recycle depot,” said Sunshine Coast Airport general manager Peter Pallott. The compost produced by the system is used on the Airport’s gardens.
To make OSCA even easier to use, the units have a remote controlled, electrically powered lid.
OSCA’s are manufactured on the Sunshine Coast using locally sourced materials where possible. The WDU built their first OSCA (without solar panels) in 2010 with the financial assistance of Queensland’s State Government.
WDU Sustainability says it has had significant interest in the solar powered OSCA, both locally and overseas.
The relationship of the name to the cranky creature that lived in a garbage can on Sesame Street is no coincidence – it was inspired by Oscar The Grouch
Image credit: Worms Down Under
