Kinsale Community School’s MyGug Biodigester. In May 2022 Kinsale Community School purchased and installed a MyGug biodigester to deal with the problem of food waste at the school. When food breaks down in landfill it emits methane gas, a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, into the atmosphere. The MyGug on the other hand, converts food waste using a natural process called anaerobic digestion, turning it into useable form of methane and a liquid fertiliser, thus eliminating the need to send food waste to landfill. The gas is pumped into one of the school’s Home Economics rooms where it is used for cooking and the liquid fertiliser will be used as a plant/soil feed in the school’s greenhouse. The MyGug has been designed and produced by Kieran Coffey in Co. Cork and comes in different sizes. In order to choose the right sized digester, the school’s TY ‘Waste Watchers’ team weighed the food waste from the canteen over a period of a week to determine the quantity produced. Based on this evidence the appropriate size was selected, which is the ‘Mini’ MyGug which converts up to 5.5kg of food waste per day. Unlike a composter, it doesn’t take garden waste but most forms of raw and cooked food. It uses a macerator to reduce the food waste to smaller ‘digestible’ pieces, so large solid items such as heavy bones and avocado stones cannot be inserted. The MyGug will be managed and operated by members of the KCS Staff Sustainability Team and the Green Schools committee. For more information on MyGug visit: http://mygug.eu
