Household food and kitchen waste can potentially be converted into a valuable resource through composting. This study evaluated design and performance of an indoor composter for household purposes, known as Takakura box composter, by determining the influence of three different feed-rates of food waste on the product quality, thereby replicating real-life household conditions. The results have shown that a) the composters operated within the mesophilic temperature range, reaching a maximum temperature of 60 °C in composters that were fed with 2.5 kg waste/day; b) the small size of the composter (40-60 l) is suitable when dealing with organic waste in the range of 5-12 kg/week. It was concluded that the box composters were effectively able to convert kitchen waste into stable compost reducing the original volume of the kitchen waste by 80%, irrespective to the feed-rate. However, even though the box composter operation is simple, this study found that the composting process is delicate. As a solution, an active participation of the owner is required to achieve proper understanding of the decomposition process.
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