Rubbish Incinerator & Compost

Rubbish Incinerator & Compost Set-up

Current Set-up

An image identifying the problem of young school children playing in the garbage. In addition to the pollution caused by the smoke, a hazardous environment is created by the open fire. In collaboration with the opinions of the school's head mistress and student council, this was prioritized as the main concern.

Incinerator Designs

8.5.2 Incineration

Incineration is an efficient and effective way to reduce organic and combustible waste to inorganic matter. Appropriate wastes should be at least 60 per cent combustible with a moisture content of not more than 30 per cent. A medical waste incinerator is designed to disinfect and render hazardous waste safe. It may be suitable for pathological, infectious or sharp wastes but should not be used for general solid waste, since this is an inefficient use of energy. Incinerators vary greatly from the sophisticated to the basic, and consequently performance, and therefore safety, varies greatly. Additional fuel is usually required if they are to operate correctly.

The drum can be fitted with a chimney which should be at least 1m taller than surrounding structures, and this should help to remove smoke and reduce the effects of pollution. The incinerator can be built directly above a sealed pit so that the ash can be emptied from the base of the drum and deposited directly into the pit below. Alternatively the ash can be removed and buried nearby.

Strictly speaking this is not an incinerator but a burner since it is unlikely to reduce all waste to ashes. Basic incinerators such as this often cause serious problems with emissions and should always be positioned at least 100m from the medical centre and other habitable buildings, to minimise the effects of smoke pollution. However, it is important that this is accompanied by appropriate containers for transportation and protective clothing. Sharp wastes such as needles will not be incinerated completely and therefore should be disposed of elsewhere if possible.

Advantages: Incinerators are cheap and quick to construct; and destroy infectious waste.

Constraints: There are smoke and odour hazards; and it is ineffective for the disposal of sharps. And dangerous to kids, who might try and play with it.

Initial CAD

Drawing

When we first visited Wangige School, we noticed the trash problem that they had. The trash was just left in a pile in the school. The kids could play on the pile of trash, and when the school decided to lit the fire, there was nothing separating the kids from the lit fire. So we decided an incinerator would be good for the school's trash problem.

So we researched different types of incinerators, and based our design off of them. Then James designed the incinerator on SketchUp.

With our designs settled we went back to the school and started building it.