Atlas Organics brings modular system to New England

Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Atlas Organics held an event in West Haven, Connecticut, in mid-January to demonstrate its EASP Modular Unit. Atlas describes the system as “a fully remote, off-grid solution to diverting organic waste and creating quality compost.”

The EASP Modular Unit powers all blowers as well as monitoring and control systems needed to run an extended aerated static pile (ASP), says the company.

“Our hope for this project is that it demonstrates to the people of West Haven and other municipalities, that when you are faced with solid waste management decisions, there are things you can do,” says Doug Colter with the city of West Haven. “This ASP project will show that we can incorporate more and more organics from our waste stream into a usable product,” he adds.

Colter, the city’s project manager, is overseeing a food waste diversion and compost pilot project funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Urban Farming program.

He says the composting project is permitted by the department as a pilot and is a public-private partnership with Atlas.

“Modular Units like these can finally provide a much-needed solution for municipalities with limited space,” says Atlas Organics CEO Joseph McMillin. “The Modular Unit allows for a large amount of material to be processed in a small space with limited infrastructure.”

According to Atlas, which recently was acquired by San Francisco-based Generate Capital, the Modular Unit is made using a 20-foot shipping container that is outfitted with a newly developed control system that allows operators, managers and engineers to see and communicate with the unit remotely.

The unit comes equipped with temperature probes, a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, a three-blower EASP system with piping, an operations manual and Solvita maturity kits used in soil testing.