The Green Box
Year: 2023
Team: Collaboration with Riley Schoonmaker and Julia De Miguel
Type: Academic
Class: Engineering Design
Final Report: PDF
The Green Box is a redesigned, automatic composting product which strives to close the disconnect between community and compost. Currently, responsibly redirecting food waste in apartment-style living is inaccessible to the general public because of lack of compost education, want to carry out the labor, and air pollution. The Green Box bridges the gap by providing a system that is versatile, features automatic composting mechanisms, and places the compost in a way that eliminates air pollution.
Compartment One | Aids in connecting the user to the components of The Green Box
Weigh Tray | Measures the input of food waste
Allows the proper amount of organic material to be calculated and displayed on the digital screen. Functions to flip input from the first user-interactive compartment one into the compost-facilitating second compartment.
Digital Screen | Manages the weigh tray, automatic auger system, and sprinkler complex
User-interactive digital component that displays updated information by using the power provided by the solar panels.
Insulated Lid | Functions as the input point for food waste and organic materials
Situated to sit directly above the weigh tray for ease. Features a tight seal to help keep air pollution contained.
Compartment Two | Compost-Facilitating compartment
Automatic Auger System | Maintains aeration of the contents of compartment two
Operates as a fully automatic system to remove the need for manual mixing in compartment two.
Sprinkler Complex | Automatically regulates moisture content in compartment two for the user
Operates as a fully automatic system to remove the need for the manual addition of water to compartment two by the user.
Solar Panel | Provides power to mechanical systems
Slanted to help increase function ability in all weather conditions without tedious manual.
Adaptability | functionable in a plethora of windowsills or other environments with retractable, attachable sides Integrated detachable, retractable side pieces and the windowsill notch allow this product to function inside of any windowsill or independently of one as well
Design Details
Prototype Pics
The Report
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Deciding where to responsibly redirect food waste residentially and industry wide has already been solved: Composting. Although the age-old natural solution is already presented, accessibility and convenience for specific environments where the food waste is being produced needs to be addressed to make the process of composting a viable option for everyone to take part to guarantee a sustainable future.
Alternative Approaches
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Lomi is a fully automatic in-home composter that makes composting possible with the push of a singular button. It’s sleek, insulated design allows it to be used in-home, which puts it above other residential composters that rely on a separate long-term composting area to avoid air pollution. This in-home composter can redirect 80 percent of the user’s food waste. Lomi prioritizes minimizing their environmental impact in production, during the product’s life, as well as post-production. The only drawback to Lomi is its energy consumption. Although its energy consumption is lower than that of other household appliances, it still is not a fully carbon neutral solution to in-home composting.
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Bin composting takes the process of composting in its most natural form and makes it suitable for in-home applications. Food waste is put in an insulated (smell-free) bucket in the home and then requires the user to take it weekly to their town’s communal compost site or their own personal compost pile. Although this option redirects the user’s food waste, all bins are not able to redirect one hundred percent of the food waste produced. Certain bins may not be able to compost meats, dairy, or certain specific commercial compostable single-use products. This solution, although affordable, is not accessible to the general public because of the need for an extensive knowledge about proper organic material to food waste ratio to facilitate the process of composting, moisture content, and aeration requirements. This option creates a large disconnect between community and compost, a gap that Green Box aims to bridge. Another downside to bin composting is that it is unable to redirect all food waste.
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Backyard composters facilitate composting through vermicompost, aerobic, anaerobic, in- vessel, windrow, or Bokashi Composting. All these options require outside space for the compost process to take place, in depth education about the specific requirements of the type of composting method, as well as manual labor from the user. For these reasons, these processes are not popular for residents in the city that lack outdoor space as well as users who are looking for a minimal effort option to redirect their food waste.
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The Green Box will bridge the gap between community and compost through automated composting mechanisms, which will allow users of all compost-educated backgrounds are able to take part in the future of food waste diversion. The automatic composting mechanisms features a digital screen, which manages the automatic weigh tray, mechanical auger system, and sprinkler complex that all draws power from solar panels. A notch between the two compartments allows The Green Box to be situated in any windowsill and be secured by the windowsill itself, making the product widely versatile to any environment. The separation of the placement of the two compartments eliminates air pollution.
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The Green Box functions between two separate compartments. The anterior compartment interacts with the user through a digital screen to guarantee that the proper ratio of food waste to organic materials is met as well as provide updates on the composting process. Through a removable lid on top of the apparatus, the user places their food waste onto a tray equipped with a weighing mechanism. The digital screen will then display the weight of the food waste inputted and then will proceed to calculate and inform the user of the amount of organic material to supplement to maintain proper ratio. These mechanisms eliminate the burdening task of calculating and managing the proper ratio. The tray is then operated through the digital screen to flip and transport the food waste into the second compartment where the compost process will begin.
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Maintenance of the composting process is facilitated through an automatic auger programmed on a preset schedule to support aeration. Appropriate moisture levels are sustained through a mechanized sprinkler complex placed in the lid of the second compartment. All mechanized components are powered by the energy processed through solar panels arranged on the outside of the second compartment. The top of the second compartment is slanted to allow the solar panels to remain uninhibited in all weather conditions with minimal manual surveillance.
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The purpose of this project is to extend Wentworth Institute of Technology’s efforts to maintain their Carbon Commitment beyond the composting efforts being made in the Beatty Dining Hall into the dorms containing a kitchen. Beyond The Green Box’s assistance in furthering the Carbon Commitment, it is easily applicable to any residence looking to start composting. The Green Box’s main function is to make composting as easy as throwing food waste into the garbage or down the sink. Increasing convenience will parallel an increase in public compost interaction.
Proposed Solution:
The Green Box
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We started The Green Box with a basic sketch of a box hanging out of the window. Originally, we wanted to have a clear panel that would allow the users to see inside of the composter. There was also a round hole on the top for the organic waste to be entered and a manual auger. Along with these features there was a garden bed on the top that would allow herbs, flowers, and vegetables to be grown. With lots of thought and a list of improvements to make we redesigned the entire Green Box. The Green Box would still be hanging out the window, but we have now added an inside that has a hole on the top along with a digital screen. This screen would allow the user to measure the amount of organic waste on the scale inside and create the correct environment for the compost. We also added solar panels on the top to power the screen along with the scale and automatic auger. These changes would allow the users to compost easily with very little effort.
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The box would be built through materials sourced from B-certified companies also known as Certified B Corp. These refer to for-profit firms that have been recognized by B Lab, a nonprofit organization that assesses a company's social and environmental performance against the benchmarks in the online B Impact Assessment. Additionally, efforts will be made to advocate for Wentworth and get companies to donate some materials or apply for grants so that Wentworth is able to implement this at as low-cost as possible. We would use any sort of biomaterial that we could get access to and recycle from preexisting designs that might carry the same idea for any fragment of our design. “Trial and error” will be a routine to follow, mostly when adapting to new clients' needs but we would like to recycle most of these errors made throughout time and reuse as many of them towards future green boxes.
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One way we could test The Green Box would be in campus dorms. We could roll it out to those students who are willing to participate and/or put a Green Box on every floor. There would have to be an incentive for those involved so we could test to see how many students are interested and how many students would keep up with it on a regular basis. If we were to be testing The Green Box, we could see how long it would take to compost the organic materials completely and see if there could be any improvements on the inside to make the composting occur faster. From this we could see how practical The Green Box would be on campus for students to use and if it would make a difference in organic food waste of the entire campus. If this is successful, we could then install them in every dorm to make a bigger difference around campus.