An automated composting system designed by Swinburne students has won Swinburne’s 2022 ‘Design for Change’ competition.
Final year students Nick French, Alex Morris, Jackson Semmens, and Trung Doan collaborated with second year student Ben Szekely. Expanding on a project that was started in 2021, the five students developed a mobile app to control motors and sensors of a composter prototype called LIDA, created by a new start-up industry partner.
The in-vessel prototype speeds up the decomposition rate of organic matter by adjusting the carbon to nitrogen levels to provide ideal conditions for microorganisms to thrive and produce compost in as little as 60 days.
Diverting organic waste from landfills to produce compost
When organic waste is left to decompose in landfill it doesn’t get the proper aeration it needs, producing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
“If more households composted we would drastically reduce the waste going to landfill,” says LIDA team leader Nicholas French.
“Typical household composting takes months to complete. Our client found that by optimising the carbon to nitrogen levels of the input and using a closed vessel system this total composting cycle can be reduced to just 60 days.”
LIDA creates a controlled environment for the food producing organisms to thrive. Sensors collect data about oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature and moisture levels. This information is uploaded to the cloud and can be viewed on a mobile app.
“With LIDA we believe we can produce a carefree household composting system without the tedious maintenance or knowledge required for typical home composting, allowing Australia to start reducing its household waste and get us on track for a more sustainable future,” French says.
