Food waste is composted by a wide range of technologies, from low-tech
windrows that require only a front-end-loader to mix and turn piles, to
medium-tech aerated static piles and windrow turning machines, to high-tech
in-vessel containers with aeration and agitation systems. The guiding
principle of higher tech equipment design is to maximize the presentation
of surface area of the food waste to microbes within optimal oxygen and
moisture concentrations, thus accelerating degradation.