Patent ID: 7497890

Claim:
A method of converting municipal solid waste into a useful compost material, the method comprising the following steps: providing a stream of solid waste for treatment; extracting materials from the solid waste; scanning the remaining solid waste with a Geiger counter to detect the presence or absence of radioactive materials; removing any detected radioactive materials from the solid waste; grinding the solid waste into particles of 1 millimeter or less; transferring the ground solid waste into a drum; adding manure and sludge to the drum and thereafter sealing the drum; rotating the drum to mix the ground solid waste, manure and sludge; sterilizing the contents of the drum by adding steam in an amount sufficient to pressurize and heat the drum to 120° for approximately 37 minutes; permitting the drum to cool for a period of 10 to 30 minutes and thereafter depressurizing the drum by venting the remaining steam; removing the contents of the drum.