Green Cones™ are in–ground digesters that are sited in yards, gardens, even right next to the house. The cones digest all household food scraps, including meat, fish, bones and dairy. Anything scraped off a plate or left over from meal preparation can be put in a Green Cone.

Green Cones are also a great tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions! Just 1,000 homes using Green Cones to digest all of their food scraps would keep the equivalent of 2,280 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere each year. See Footnote ¹

Why Use a Green Cone?

Whether you like to compost or not, or have never tried, Green Cones offer a distinct advantage over the backyard compost bin for most people. Namely, you can put ALL food scraps into the cone to digest–even meat, bones, small amounts of oil, dairy products, fish, etc. People who compost typically shy away from adding these ingredients to their piles or bins because they can attract skunks and mice, and can give off unpleasant odors as they decay. And if all of your food scraps aren't composted, then they're sent to a landfill where their decomposition adds to greenhouse gas emissions.

How Green Cones Work

Once your Green Cone is in place, simply open the lid, add food scraps, and close the lid. That's it! With heat from the sun and microbes and organisms in the soil, the food scraps will fairly quickly decompose and the nutrients will be released into the soil around the cone. A sunny location and good or modified drainage are also critical to the process; see Green Cone Tips for more information. Decomposition quickens during warm weather and slows during cool weather. But since much of the material is underground, it never stops altogether. One cone is often sufficient for most households, but large families or those living in cold climates may find it works best to have two cones to allow for year–round use.

How to Buy Green Cones

There are several purchasing options based on where you live and whether you want just one cone for your own backyard or are looking to offer Green Cones to your community or employees. See Green Cone Sales for details.

Footnote ¹ : Survey results found that households taking part in the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District's Bin & Cone Pilot diverted an average of 760 lbs. of food scraps per year to their cones. Using this figure, 1,000 households would divert approximately 380 tons of food scraps to Green Cones. Since each ton of food scraps would emit the equivalent of 6 tons of CO2 in a landfill, those 380 tons of food scraps diverted would keep 2,280 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere each year.

Sources:

• Only In My Backyard Report, June 2007; Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, Montpelier, VT.
• Zero Waste Inc. web site, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Resource page.