Innovation
Next-generation compost crafting machines.
A new era of Automation
The amount of food waste that needs to be composted responsibly with care and attention is overwhelming. We are diving deep into research and development of next-generation compost crafting machines that scale.
Introducing bEartha
bEartha is our first automated in-vessel hot composting machine designed and built in Nelson, New Zealand.
The primary purpose of bEartha is to optimise the hot composting process, making it more automated, efficient, safe and scalable.
We are currently trialling our second prototype model of bEartha at our urban composting site in Nelson CBD, and seeking funding support to continue research and development towards a production model by 2025.
Check out the trailer of the Ben & bEartha film!
What makes bEartha awesome
Efficient
Food waste is first shredded to maximise the surface area of the raw material before being loaded into bEartha via the loading auger, along with carbon material such as wood chips.
Smart
bEartha is connected to our cloud based platform, allowing users to analyse real time data, update configuration settings and trigger turn operations remotely through the the mobile app.
Safe
bEartha captures the methane produced by the composting process using a bio-filter, reducing emissions and odours. bEartha does not attract pests such as rats and mice making it suitable for urban environments.
Automated
bEartha monitors the compost temperature, and automates the heavy work of turning the compost exactly when turning is needed. This re-oxygenates and cools down the compost, optimising habitat conditions for the right microorganisms.
Modular & Scalable
bEartha is housed in a shipping container which makes it easily transportable, secure and modular - bEartha facilities can scale to meet any level of demand, as centralised or distributed as required.
Affordable
Making bEartha accessible to small and medium scale composting operations like us is our dream. We believe we can produce a greater machine for less cost than current market options.
Want one?
We are ready to build and deliver bEartha units to your community or organisation.
A brief history of bEartha
bEartha V1
We built bEartha V1 in 2019 out of necessity to scale our human labour based composting operations. With very little financial resources, we pieced together a reclaimed 25 year old 20,000 litre steel tank, second hand motors, wheels and other bits of hardware. We made use of the skill sets we had available in our immediate community and produced a great proof-of-concept machine that was automated, internet connected and remotely controllable.
We processed tonnes of food waste with bEartha 1, processing food waste collected from the 12 month Nelson City Council food waste collection trial. We learned a lot from this process and pushed to the very edges of what we could achieve by ourselves.
bEartha v2
We were extremely grateful to receive two grants to build bEartha 2, which afforded us the opportunity to contract out much of the technical and heavy engineering work to the experts.
We partnered with Kernohan Engineering and UpShift who have helped us improve on both the design, construction, safety and reliability of bEartha 1. Notable improvements include a loading auger, containerised design and industrial grade componentry and a covered processing area.
Where to next?
Our ultimate goal is to design and produce radically innovative composting machines that meet the rapidly increasing need for composting solutions, while setting new industry standards in energy efficiency, affordability and quality of compost produced.
Beyond bEartha
While a model like bEartha 2 builds advanced automation, monitoring and remote control on top of an otherwise traditional in-vessel composting machine design, we are also researching ways we can adopt emerging technologies in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Industrial Internet of Things.
Our dream is to drastically improve on the current market offerings, at a competitive price point.
Open Source
We know we have the opportunity to create something that really benefits the world, and we want to maximise our impact by sharing and collaborating with others. Our plan is to make all of our designs and code open source, so that others trying to solve the same problems don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Support this project
We are seeking funding to continue investment into this vital research and development.
If you are interested in donating, investing or collaborating with us , we’d love to hear from you.
