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How Griffon
compares.

Griffon against the realistic alternatives — on-site composting, dehydrators, and conventional collection — on what matters operationally and environmentally. Carbon footprint is one row; it is not the whole story.

Griffon vs the alternatives

Compared with other technologies.

Griffon
On-site composter
Dehydrator
Classic collection
Installed in / next to the kitchen
Yes
No — separate room
Yes
No
Operation
Continuous 24/7
Batch cycles
Batch cycles
Leftover material to deal with
None — drains away as liquid
Yes — solid output
Yes — dried mass
Yes — full mass
Output safe for your vegetable garden?
Nothing to apply
No 1
No 1
Legal to spread on land?
Not applicable
No — needs approved facility 2
No — needs approved facility 2
Handled by hauler
Plumbing
Standard kitchen drain 3
On-site waste storage
None
Yes
Yes
Yes — bins
Odour & pests
None to low (sealed)
Moderate
Low
High
Transport emissions
None
Yes — output hauled
Yes — dried mass hauled
Yes — full load
CO₂ footprint*
21.40 kg CO₂/t
≈165 kg CO₂/t
346.45 kg CO₂/t
up to 2,965 (landfill)
Primary data for ESG
Built-in scales
Varies by model
Varies by model
Hauler estimates
Labour
None
Required — operator
Required — empty trays
Required — bins
Running cost — electricity
Very low 4
Low–moderate
Higher
Main ongoing cost
Minimal electricity, water, enzymes
High electricity, labour, residue disposal
High electricity, labour, residue disposal
Haulage & waste management — €2,000–4,500/mo

*Processing/disposal footprint per University of Zagreb (2022): aerobic device (Griffon) and dehydrator are device-processing figures; landfill is the net lifecycle value for waste sent without gas capture. On-site treatment adds no collection transport; off-site routes add transport on top. The electric composter figure (≈165 kg CO₂/t) is computed from a representative commercial in-vessel unit (≈690 kWh/month, ~30 t/year) at the study’s 0.60 kg CO₂/kWh factor. Composting and anaerobic digestion can be net-negative on a full lifecycle basis thanks to resource-recovery credits — see the carbon section below and the full study. The notes 1–4 in the table are explained, with sources, in Methodology & sources below.

Methodology & sources

How to read this comparison.

1. Is the output usable on a vegetable garden?

On-site composters and dehydrators reduce and hygienise food residues, but peer-reviewed work shows the material is typically biologically immature and not equivalent to finished compost: it needs further curing before use, and studies have detected phytotoxicity persisting even after several weeks of curing. Regulatory guidance likewise states that dried food residue is not compost and must be rehydrated and blended before it can be composted. Applied directly to edible crops, immature material can inhibit germination and damage plants, and it also engages food-safety obligations for the food business. The Griffon produces no solid material, so there is nothing to cure, store, or apply.

Sources: Science of the Total Environment (2020); BioCycle, “Electric Kitchen Composter Confusion” (2023); CalRecycle guidance.

2. Is it legal to spread the output on land?

Under EU law, catering and kitchen food residues are animal by-products (Category 3). Converting them into compost or digestate intended for application to land must take place in a facility approved under Regulation (EC) 1069/2009, using a validated process — not in an on-site kitchen appliance. In practice the output of an on-site machine is therefore still removed and, in most cases, handled as waste. The Griffon produces no solid output, so this land-application pathway does not arise.

Sources: Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 and Commission Regulation (EU) 142/2011; Croatian Pravilnik on animal by-products not intended for human consumption.

3. Plumbing — the standard kitchen drain.

Each Griffon connects to the existing kitchen drain, which — like the dishwasher and every other appliance — runs to the building’s grease separator (EN 1825), the standard pre-treatment every commercial kitchen already has. Measured effluent is around 1700 mg/L COD, and below 500 mg/L after the grease separator — comparable to ordinary domestic wastewater. The enzymes and micro-organisms used in digestion continue to act downstream on fats, oils and grease, in the same way as documented grease-trap bioaugmentation, which peer-reviewed studies associate with lower fat/oil/grease deposition, fewer sewer-line blockages and reduced COD load to treatment plants. Across our installations to date we have recorded no wastewater problems, and on some sites an improvement in trap and drain-line condition was observed (field observation, not a controlled laboratory measurement).

Sources: peer-reviewed grease-trap bioaugmentation literature (e.g. Bioresource Technology; Journal of Environmental Sciences); Griffon effluent measurement and field experience.

4. Running cost — electricity.

The Griffon is driven by small, single-phase, continuous-duty motors — 0.18 kW on the GR-70/GR-150 up to 1.5 kW on the GR-1000 — with no high-power drying stage. At maximum rated throughput this is approximately 0.03–0.06 kWh per kilogram of food residues (nameplate rating — a conservative upper bound; actual draw is typically lower). This matches the University of Zagreb figure reached by a different route: 21.40 kg CO₂/t at the study’s 0.60 kg CO₂/kWh factor is about 0.036 kWh/kg. For context grounded in physics: any process that reduces mass by drying must supply the latent heat of vaporisation of water — on the order of 0.45–0.55 kWh per kilogram of food residues at typical 70–80% water content (standard steam tables), before any system losses. Because the Griffon discharges water as liquid rather than evaporating it, this dominant energy term does not apply. The composter (≈0.28 kWh/kg) and dehydrator (≈0.58 kWh/kg) values are derived from the CO₂ figures in the table at the same factor.

Sources: Griffon motor nameplate specifications; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering (2022); standard steam tables (latent heat of vaporisation of water).

What we do not claim. We do not claim the Griffon is net carbon-negative or environmentally superior on a full lifecycle basis — composting and anaerobic digestion can be net-negative thanks to resource-recovery credits. Competitor electricity values are derived or modelled, not measured on a specific third-party device. Wastewater improvement is an operational observation, not a controlled measurement.

What the study concludes

After donation, on-site aerobic
treatment (Griffon) is the most
desirable option for food waste.

Installed where the waste arises — restaurants, hotels, hospital and school kitchens — an aerobic device (Griffon) avoids the trucks and bins of conventional collection and keeps food waste out of landfill. On a like-for-like processing basis, treating one tonne emits 21.40 kg CO₂ with an aerobic device (Griffon) against 346.45 kg for a dehydrator — about 16× lower, and far below landfill (2,965 kg/t without gas capture).

21.40
Aerobic treatment (Griffon)
16×
lower than a dehydrator
~138×
lower than landfill

kg CO₂ eq. per tonne, processing basis. On-site treatment adds no transport; off-site routes add 0.20 kg CO₂ per km per tonne (study, within a ~60 km radius).

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