Gardens school converts lunch leftovers into water
Mechanical digester has disposed of tons of waste since November.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A small, quiet machine tucked into a corner of the cafeteria at one Palm Beach Gardens school is accomplishing a mighty feat: converting 150 pounds of half-eaten sloppy joes, pasta, potatoes and the like into usable water.
Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy leaders say they believe theirs is the only school in Florida with the Power Knot Liquid Food Composter. The stainless steel “stomach” contains food-grade plastic pellets with enzymes that help break down the food as it’s tossed about in water.
The gadget is taking a $300 chunk out of about $1,400 in monthly trash fees, and generating real-life lessons in recycling and ecology for the students, school officials said. Meyer Academy operations manager
Since the machine, the size of a mini fridge, was installed in November, it has digested about 7,000 pounds of food waste, Operations Manager Steven Orlinsky said. That’s 7,000 pounds of muck that didn’t need to be hauled off for disposal.
“We ’ v e e l i mi n a t e d p r e t t y much all of our garbage waste and turned it into rec ycling,” Orlinsky said.
It’s up to the academy’s students to make sure the composter isn’t fed something foul. They sort their food and other recyclables from trash when they’re finished eating. They keep an eye on each other to make sure they get it right, interim Head of School Maya Scwartz said.
“The kids are very excited,” Scwartz said. “They’re part of the recycling process. They take pride in that.”
The machine generates nightly r e p o r t s o f h o w muc h i t h a s ingested, but it’s nearly impossible to discern exactly how much water it has produced. The output varies based on the water solubility of the food that’s tossed in, said Tony Aiello, president of Access Recycling Solutions, the company that owns the composter.
A piece of watermelon, for example, will produce more water than a piece of chicken. The water culled from these castoffs then is drained off like any other water.
The mechanized composter can chew up just about anything and spit it out as non-drinkable water. It can handle chicken wings and pork ribs — but not a T-bone from a steak, Aiello said. Bones just