NOVELTY - Composting apparatus (10) for composting soft and hard organic material, comprises a cylindrical drum (11) rotatably supported along its central longitudinal axis, drive means for rotating the drum, a hopper (25) at a feed end (26) of the drum for receiving the organic waste material (27), a material shredding mechanism and a grinding mechanism are rotatably secured in the hopper, at least two material mixing and conveying vane assemblies secured in spaced-apart relationship in the drum, means to vent the enclosure, and discharge means to discharge the material from the drum.    USE - The composting apparatus is useful for: composting soft and hard organic material (claimed); and treating domestic organic material from multi-residence buildings, grocery stores and food processing plants of all sorts (e.g. as meat or produce handling plants).    ADVANTAGE - The composting apparatus: is compact, easy to use and empty, and economical to construct; requires very little maintenance; is self-contained, fully integrated unit which is easily displaceable and does not require a separate storage tank or crusher; and is easy to install.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Composting apparatus (10) for composting soft and hard organic material, comprises a cylindrical drum (11) rotatably supported along its central longitudinal axis, drive means for rotating the drum about the longitudinal axis, a hopper (25) at a feed end (26) of the drum for receiving the organic waste material (27), a material shredding mechanism and a grinding mechanism are rotatably secured in the hopper for shredding and grinding the organic waste material and feeding same to an inlet opening of the drum, at least two material mixing and conveying vane assemblies secured in spaced-apart relationship in the drum and rotatable with them, where the material mixing and conveying vane assemblies define sub-composting compartments between them, one of the material mixing and conveying vane assemblies are positioned adjacent the inlet opening, and each of the material mixing and conveying vane assemblies have a cylindrical support securable to an inner face of the drum and many vanes secured in spaced-apart relationship to the cylindrical support and projecting interiorly towards the central longitudinal axis and oriented at a common angle to mix and continue to shred and displace shredded and ground material from the inlet opening towards a rear end of the drum, means to vent the enclosure, and discharge means to discharge the material from the drum. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for composting soft and hard organic waste material, comprising (i) feeding the waste material in a hopper associated with a feed end of a cylindrical composting drum, where the waste material is directed for shredding and grounding by a combination of a toothed feeder assembly having a series of cutting teeth intermeshed with many cutting blades secured to a chopper assembly, (ii) driving the feeder shaft and chopper shaft in counter-rotation, (iii) ejecting shredded and ground organic waste material in an inlet opening at the feed end of the cylindrical drum, (iv) rotating the cylindrical drum along its central longitudinal axis, (v) mixing, further shredding and conveying the shredded and ground organic waste material towards a rear end of the drum as the drum continuously rotates, where the mixing and conveying are comprised by many vane assemblies secured to an inner wall of the drum and spaced apart from one another and rotatively driven with the drum, and (vi) discharging organic waste material from the drum by suction.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a simplified side view of the composting apparatus.    Composting apparatus (10)    Cylindrical drum (11)    Hopper (25)    Feed end (26)    Organic waste material (27)