In Louisiana, for example, the number of landfills went from 800 in 1980 to fewer than 30 this year. The state Department of Environmental Quality said that number will be reduced to 11 by the year 2000. The LSU Ag Center's compost facility includes demonstration versions of three of the main pieces of equipment needed at a composting facility - tub grinder, traummel screen and windrow turner. The tub grinder, which is like a big garbage disposal, can take waste as big as a tree trunk and grind it into smaller pieces. The traummel screen is like a sifter.
Materials rotate in a screened drum so pieces that are too large can be filtered out.
But we want to get better. Breitenbeck and Carney are working to get funding to expand the capabilities of the facility to take in and compost municipal biosolids and hazardous wastes.