Container for handling dragon fruit waste of architecture students

Using earthworms to process dragon fruit, bio-waste bins of three students from HCMC University of Architecture to solve the urgent problem of Binh Thuan farmers.

>>>Feed worms "eat" garbage

They are students of the 9th class, KT09A2 class of Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture, three Central boys were born in 1991 Dao Y Kha (Binh Thuan village), Cao Dang Khoa (Phu Yen), Ton That Phu Tri (Hue) made Surprise friends when winning the highest prize of Holcim Prize 2013 with a project not in the field of study.

Concerned about the situation of collecting dragon fruit waste in the countryside of Binh Thuan, leader Dao Y Kha and his friends have been struggling to find a solution. If letting the dragon fruit self-decompose it will take a long time, causing environmental pollution and causing the spread of pathogens to the plant.

From left to right Cao Dang Khoa, Ton That Phu Tri and Dao Y Kha.(Photo: NVCC)

Experiencing many times, the model of 'organic waste worms' for dragon fruit stalks to reduce pollution is born. This model also helps to reduce agricultural costs, increase farmers' income with worm manure used to fertilize trees and worms after the crop is over, which will be sold as food for livestock and poultry.

'Garbage from dragon fruit body is organic waste. Some people find ways to deal with dragon fruits by composting, burying, but wasting and not gaining anything but letting the dragon fruit garden be cleaner so few people do this ' , Dao Y Kha chia share.

Student groups tried to use probiotics and rice husk ash, using black soldier fly, landfill method . but they were not effective. Finally, cinnamon worms are chosen because they are easy to do, good resolution. In addition to dealing with dragon fruit waste, income from the earthworm business can be increased.

The bio-waste system consists of 2 stacked trays.The size of the barrel system is 1200x 800x 300mm.

This bin consists of two stacked trays and is permanently linked by the external frame system. Under each tray, there is a square mesh of zinc mesh (5mm) to allow worms to easily move back and forth between the two trays. The container is 0.3m ^{3 of} organic waste, equivalent to 165kg of fresh waste, which can solve the volume of dragon fruit garbage of 40 trees per year.

'Every week the whole group had to drive more than 200km from Saigon to Binh Thuan to deploy the model. The group has to arrange the time and schedule of working with teachers, local people and people to successfully complete the learning and successful project ' , Kha said.

In addition to solving dragon fruit waste, this model can increase income from earthworm business.

The project 'Biological Trash' was handed over to people in Ham Thang Commune, Ham Thuan Bac District, Binh Thuan Province, with a support budget of nearly VND 200 million. This is considered a sustainable solution for farmers. As one of the models of earthworms, "bio-waste bin" is considered completely new in both the way of operation and service scale.

Mr. Phan Tan Trinh, Head of Extension Department, Center for Extension and Extension of Binh Thuan province said that the locality highly appreciated this project. Through the time of the trial application, people were very surprised with the results. Reasonable initial investment costs and simple operations make it easy for farmers to deploy in their home gardens.