TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The material shredding and grinding mechanism is comprised of a toothed feeder assembly having a series of cutting teeth rotatably secured about a feeder shaft and extending longitudinally along them, a chopper assembly rotatably secured to a chopper shaft, many cutting blades disposed spaced-apart along the chopper shaft and extending transversely to intermesh between the teeth of the feeder shaft, and pusher plates extending transversely between the cutting blades to discharge material into the inlet opening. The chopper shaft is provided with many attachment plates immovably secured to the chopper shaft in spaced-apart relationship and extending transversely to across the chopper shaft, and a cutting blade removably secured to attachment means at a free end of each the attachment plates, where the pusher plates are removably secured to the attachment means and extending between them in their top end portions. The pusher plates are rectangular flat plates having opposed securement end flanges, where the pusher plates are oriented to have their side wall disposed transverse to the attachment plates to project shredded and ground organic material into the inlet opening. The attachment plates are oriented at an angle offset from adjacent attachment plates all about the chopper shaft, where the pusher plates are secured between two attachment plates spanning an intermediate attachment plate so that the pusher plates overlap one another in an offset relationship. The toothed feeder shaft is provided with at least two series of pointed teeth formed in spaced-apart relationship along a tooth supporting steel plate welded along a steel cylinder secured about the feeder shaft, where the pointed teeth define a trough between them for the passage of the cutting blades of the chopper shaft. In the composting apparatus, there are four of the tooth supporting steel plates, where the tooth supporting steel plates are secured to an elongated cylinder secured on opposed transverse diametrical axes of the cylinder. The toothed feeder shaft is driven by a first motor, where the chop per shaft are driven by a second motor, the drive means are a drive motor secured to a sprocket drive for rotating the drum, the first and second motors are operated in counter-rotation, and the first and second motors and the drive motor are operated in synchronism. The sprocket drive is comprised of a drive ring secured about the drum and having projecting teeth extending from it for toothed engagement with a drive link chain engaged by a drive sprocket secured to a drive shaft of the drive motor. In the composting apparatus, each the vane of the material mixing and conveying vane assemblies is comprised of a flat steel plate having inwardly tapering side edges, a wide securing bottom edge and a shorter free top edge, where the free top edge of opposed vanes are diagonally spaced-apart from one another to form a central opening between them to oxygenate waste material, the side edges constitute cutting and shredding edges, and many material mixing and conveying vane assemblies are secured in spaced relationship internally of the drum. The inlet opening is disposed substantially centrally of the drum in a drum connecting circular plate of the hopper and a sealing hub secured about the feed end of the drum and rotatable with it, and a friction ring secured to the drum connecting wall and frictionally engaged with the drum connecting circular plate by a collar of the sealing hub to provide rotation of the hub about the drum connection circular plate. The hopper has an open top end for receiving organic waste material, where the hopper has an angulated bottom wall, opposed side walls and a drum connecting wall, the toothed feeder shaft is supported between the side walls above the angulated bottom wall, the chopper shaft is secured between the side walls below the feeder shaft adjacent a bottom end of the angulated bottom wall and in relation to a bottom arcuate wall section facing adjacent a bottom section of the inlet opening, and the angulated bottom wall and arcuate wall section directs the shredded organic waste material into the grinding mechanism to eject the shredded organic waste into the inlet opening. The cylindrical drum is constructed of rubber material and having an undulated side wall forming stiffening ribs integrally formed along with it, where the drum is a non-corrosive leak-proof drum, and supported by rollers disposed on their opposed sides on a support frame. The support frame is provided with detachable panels to provide access inside the enclosure, exhaust means to exhaust gas from the drum to the atmosphere, and access means for access to the rear end of the drum and the discharge means. The discharge means is a suction line coupling provided at the rear end of the drum, and the access means being a door for access to the suction line coupling. Preferred Method: The step (iii) of ejecting comprises pushing the shredded and ground organic waste material by pusher plates secured transversely between the cutting blades of the chopper shaft to eject the material into the inlet opening, where the material is displaced by a first of the vane assemblies interiorly of the drum. The step (i) of driving and the step (iv) of rotating is effected in synchronism. The cylindrical composting drum is mounted horizontally in an enclosure, where the method is further provided with the step of exhausting gas, produced by the composting of the organic waste material, from the enclosure into the atmosphere. The step (vi) further comprises increasing the speed of rotation of the drum to loosen the composting organic waste material and directing the waste material towards a discharge end of the drum during the suction.