Leslie Rudd’s contemporary restaurant the “Press St. Helena” has become the first in the Napa Valley to install a system that recycles food waste into a dry, nutrient-rich soil additive. The technology developed and used in South Korea for god 12 years has now entered the kitchen of the renowned restaurant. Press’s goal behind incorporated this new technology is not to save money but the environment.
The state-of-the-art dehydrating system converts wet food-waste into fertilizers. Once the morning preparation is complete, all the food waste is put into the machine to be recycled. Paddles residing in the machine constantly mix the food waste. Press runs the machine twice a day transforming nearly 100 pounds of unfinished dinners and excess trimmings from kitchen prep for a nine-hour sterilization cycle. After the machine works for nine hours, the waste results into 15 pounds of a sterilized nitrogen-rich soil additive that can be mixed with compost or tilled into the soil.
The composting dehydrator comes in five model sizes, with the biggest able to handle around 3,300 pounds of waste. The model used at Press St. Helena is the smallest that is being marketed by FRG Waste Resources Inc., of American Canyon. The food waste dehydrator can decompose just about everything eggshells, macaroni and cheese, coffee grounds, mashed potatoes, vegetables and bread. Although, bones, corncobs, poultry or meat could also be decomposed using the system but Press prefers not doing that.
Via: NapaValleyRegister