Apparatus, System and Method for Automated Food Waste Processing

An automated food waste processing system, the system comprising:

• an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to contents contained therein;
• and
• a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure, the food waste processing system including:
• an anaerobic digester having an input configured to receive a bio-degradable input stream and an output configured to discharge a liquid fertilizer generated by the anaerobic digester from the bio-degradable input stream;
• a sorting receptacle configured to receive a food waste input stream for the anaerobic digester, the food waste input stream including food waste and non-biodegradable material;
• an imaging system configured to automatically capture a plurality of images of the food waste input stream received by the sorting receptacle;
• a processing system configured to automatically process the plurality of images to identify at least plastic waste and metal waste as the non-biodegradable material when included in the food waste input stream as received by the sorting receptacle;
• a sorting system configured to, in response to instructions received from the processing system, automatically locate and remove the non-biodegradable material from food waste input stream located in the sorting receptacle to create the bio-degradable input stream to the anaerobic digester;
• a port accessible at an exterior of the enclosure, the port configured to allow personnel untrained in an operation of the food waste sorting system to deposit the food waste input stream from a location outside of the enclosure for an automatic delivery to the sorting system;
• a fertilizer tank configured to hold the liquid fertilizer, the fertilizer tank including an input coupled to the output of the anaerobic digester and an output;
• and
• a liquid fertilizer dispensing device coupled to the output of the fertilizer tank, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device accessible at the exterior of the enclosure, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow personnel untrained in the operation of the food waste sorting system to remove liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system from a location outside of the enclosure.

A method of sorting a food waste input stream to generate an input stream to an anaerobic digester, the method comprising:

• receiving a food waste input stream that includes a 95% or greater percentage by weight of biodegradable food waste;
• automatically processing images of the food waste input stream to identify non-biodegradable waste including identifying plastic waste and metal waste included in the food waste input stream;
• automatically sorting the food waste input stream to remove the plastic waste and the metal waste based on information provided by the processing of the images;
• automatically delivering the sorted food waste input stream to the anaerobic digester;
• automatically maintaining the food waste input stream in a first location for sorting for a predetermined amount of time;
• performing a series of automated sorting operations to displace the food waste within the first location;
• and
• capturing a plurality of images associated with each of the automated sorting operations by:
• capturing at least one image before each of the plurality of automated sorting operations;
• and
• capturing at least one image following each of the plurality of automated sorting operations.

A system for identification and separation of non-biodegradable material from a food waste input stream, the system comprising:

• a sorting receptacle configured to receive a food waste input stream including food waste and non-biodegradable material;
• an imaging system configured to capture a plurality of images of the food waste and the non-biodegradable material received by the sorting receptacle;
• a processing system configured to process the plurality of images using a convolutional neural network to identify at least plastic waste and metal waste as the non-biodegradable material when included in the food waste input stream as received by the sorting receptacle;
• a sorting system configured to, in response to instructions received from the processing system, locate and remove the non-biodegradable material from the sorting receptacle to create a bio-degradable input stream suitable for processing further as an input to an anaerobic digester;
• a storage receptacle having an inlet and an outlet, the outlet including a panel configured to seal the outlet when in a first position wherein the storage receptacle is configured to receive the food waste and non-biodegradable material included in the food waste input stream;
• and
• an actuator configured to operate the panel and automatically release a set amount of material included in the food waste input stream from the storage receptacle via the outlet for delivery to the sorting receptacle.