Composting Comparisons

Paula Ford

A survey of products available for processing compost and green waste.

Every manufacturer will tell you that they have the perfect grinder, chipper or shredder to fit your compost and green waste processing needs. But is there a unit available that truly meets your requirements? To help answer that question, Waste Age has compiled information on the most up-to-date products available for green waste processing.

American Pulverizer

American Pulverizer Co., St. Louis, offers the SRS-36×156 “Boss” Auger Shredder. The hydraulic system has a 200-horsepower (hp) electric motor. The diameter of the Auger is 3-feet. Its shaft is a solid design with a reinforcing cylinder, which has a speed range adjustable from 0-38 revolutions per minute (rpm). The company also manufacturers the Wood Bark Hog, which features a cross arm design on rotor for full hammer coverage.

Bandit Industries

Bandit Industries Inc., Remus, Mich., offers a complete line of chippers, including disc style chippers, drum chippers and whole tree chippers. Options include a conveyor feed system for whole tree chippers and Auto Feed Plus, a digital feed system with an adjustable reverse feature. Bandit also manufactures a stump and log shear attachment and the Log Buster. The 3680 Beast horizontal recycler is available as a self-propelled unit.

Becker Underwood

Becker Underwood, Ames, Iowa, announces the addition of the second Harvester Sahara to its mulch coloring equipment line. The machine is designed to color large quantities of landscape mulch using less water. According to the company, the Sahara can color a minimum of 200 cubic yards per hour (cyph) by using a multi-chamber, high-speed mixing action. Features include a dual pump, micron optimizing colorant delivery system and the ability to bag and ship immediately, the company says.

Bulk Handling Systems

Bulk Handling Systems Inc., Eugene, Ore., designs, manufactures and installs processing systems for green waste material. This includes steelbelt z-pan conveyors, sorting conveyors and debris roll screens for separating specific material fractions before and after grinding. Grinders and magnets can be integrated into the system configuration.

Diamond Z Manufacturing

Diamond Z, Nampa, Ind., produces 10 models of tub grinders with engine sizes ranging from 300 horsepower (hp) to 2,000 hp. The machines are able to process materials such as wood waste, paper, plastics, stumps, logs, construction debris, pallets and tires, according to the company. All machines are portable and self-contained.

DuraTech Industries

DuraTech Industries International, Jamestown, N.D., offers a line of portable tub grinders that can be loaded onto and transported by truck. The HD-9R series of roll-off grinders features a hydraulically operating tub and tub cover, unobstructed access to the hammermill and a 275-hp electronic John Deere engine. The HD-9R is designed to fit several models of roll-off trucks, according to the company. DuraTech also manufacturers the Grindmaster 512, a ram-fed horizontal grinder that can grind asphalt, bricks, blocks, railroad ties, wood and wood waste.

Grinder Equipment

Grinder Equipment Technology, Ontario, Ore., manufactures portable and stationary wood grinders, including tub, horizontal and electric. The grinders can switch from processing fine compost to any sized material with the change of a screen. Features include a low profile and a tub that tilts to more than 90 degrees.

Innovative Environmental Systems

Innovative Environmental Systems Inc., Poquoson, Va., offers the Wright in-vessel composting system. The system uses fully enclosed flow-through tunnels and can transform organic wastes into a soil-like material, according to the company. Temperature, oxygen and air recirculation are controlled automatically. Various sizes are available.

LaBounty

LaBounty, Two Harbors, Minn., offers the MWS series of mobile wood shears, designed to process large stumps, logs, ties and wood demolition debris. The shears remove dirt and rock from stumps to prepare for further processing, according to the company. The shears do not require additional hydraulics and use the excavator's bucket cylinder and linkage to actuate the upper jaw. LaBounty also manufactures hydraulic excavator grapple attachments, each with fixed lower jaws.

Morbark

Morbark Inc., Winn, Mich., manufacturers tub grinders, horizontal grinders and wood hogs. Some tub grinders and wood hogs are available on tracks. Morbark's largest tub grinder, model 1500, has a 15-foot tub and a 36-inch hammermill. It can process more than 500 cubic yards per hour, according to the company. Model 7600 “Boss Hog” Wood Hog has a 49.5-inch diameter hammermill and can process more than 400 cyph, according to the company. Morbark also offers four models of trommel screens, all with reserve power, hydraulic capacity and torque. The portable PT837 model has 750 square feet of screen and an unrestricted feed opening. The screen can process up to 300 cyph, the company says.

Packer Industries

Packer Industries Inc., Mabelton, Ga., manufactures the Packer 2000 horizontal grinder, designed for site-clearing, demolition, asphalt and asphalt shingles. It has a 400-hp, high-torque, direct drive engine. The Packer 750 horizontal grinder is designed for smaller jobs such as on-site grinding or processing residential construction waste and green waste. The 750 provides an alternative to landfilling and has a 123-hp engine. Both models are portable.

Peterson Pacific

Peterson Pacific Corp., Eugene, Ore., offers a line of grinders. The HC 2400-B is a 460-hp horizontal grinder with crawler track mounting. The mid-sized HC 5400 is available with either 575- or 860-hp engines. The company's largest model, the HC 7400, comes with either 860 hp or 1000 hp options. The company plans to release a smaller recycler model in the third quarter of 2001.

Precision Husky

Precision Husky Corp., Leeds, Ala., manufactures the ProGrind Series with five mobile models of tub grinders. The 900 Series is powered with a 100-hp diesel and weighs 10,000 pounds (lbs). The 5100 series has a 750-hp diesel, knuckleboom loader and weighs 67,000 lbs. It is capable of processing more than 100 tons per hour (tph), the company says. Precision Husky also offers the Progrind H-3854, a portable horizontal shredder with large Flotation Tires. Powered with a 750-hp diesel at 2,100 rpm, the H-3854 will process material up to 100 tph, according to the company.

Re-Tech

Re-Tech, a Terex Co., Myerstown, Pa., manufacturers portable and stationary trommel screens, de-bagging trommels, transfer and stacking conveyors, and sorting stations. Standard and customized units are available.

Royer

Royer, a Terex Co., Myerstown, Pa., manufactures compost shredders to shred, screen and aerate waste material.

Schred Max

Schred Max, Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, will introduce in Sept. 2001, a line of primary waste reduction shredders. The Schred Max line is elevated on outrigger legs; can be loaded with skid steers, wheel loaders or excavators; and can discharge material directly into a tip bin, roll-off container or onto the ground, the company says. Each model has standard radio remote controls and programmed shredding cycles that don't require a dedicated operator. Features include replaceable wear liner plates, alloy plate in all fabricated structures and variable speed hydraulic drive systems. Options include semi-mobile or stationary formats and 4-, 8- and 16-cubic-yard hoppers.

Screen USA

Screen USA Inc., Smyrna, Ga., manufacturers compost and topsoil screening equipment consisting of portable starscreens for high-moisture screening and portable shaker screens.

SSI Designs

SSI Designs, Wilsonville, Ore., offers one-, two-, and four-shaft shredders. All models use slow-speed, high-torque technologies to tolerate foreign materials and to reject non-shreddables, according to the company.

Terex Recycling

Terex Recycling, Myerstown, Pa., offers composting systems using bag rippers, sorting stations, trommel screens, vibrating screens, hammer mills, and transfer and stockpiling conveyors.

Vecoplan

Vecoplan LLC, High Point, N.C., offers a line of products to process compost, green waste and other waste materials, including pre-shredders, single and multiple-rotor shredders, conveying technologies, air classification systems, screeners, refiners and bulk material handling. The Vecoplan VZ Dual-Shaft Waste Reducer features a solid rotor with no segmented discs in a closed design. A single-shaft model also is available.

Vermeer

Vermeer Manufacturing Co., Pella, Iowa, manufacturers tub grinders, brush chippers, stump grinders and tree spades. The TG800 tub grinder has an inside tub diameter of 11-feet and a 13-foot, 6-inch top flare. The tub design is designed to eliminate material bridging, according to the company. Vermeer also offers the BC1000, a hydraulically fed drum-style brush chipper with a 10-inch by 17-inch feed opening.

West Salem Machinery

West Salem Machinery Co., Salem, Ore., manufactures grinding and screening equipment. Products include horizontal Hogs, drop-feed Hogs, shredders, oscillating screens, trommel screens and disc screens. The company also has introduced the “Brute” wood recycler, a horizontal feed, portable grinder for processing pallets, wood waste, green waste, bark and urban wood into usable fiber products.

W.H.O.

W.H.O. Manufacturing Co., Lamar, Colo., offers tub grinders with diameters ranging from 10- to 14-feet. Power units feature engines from 300 hp to 1,200 hp. All grinders feature hydraulic drive conveyors and tubs, and hydraulic lift and fold conveyors. Options include the knuckleboom loaders, magnetic head pulleys, hydraulic landing legs and remote tub control.

Wildcat Manufacturing

Wildcat Manufacturing, Freeman, S.D., offers various styles of compost turners, including PTO, tow-a-long, front end loaders and self-propelled straddle type compost turners. Wildcat also manufactures trommel screens and can custom design municipal solid waste sorting systems, the company says.

Waste Age Contributing Editor Paula Ford is an Atlanta-based free-lance writer.