production

The present invention relates to a method for removing food- and other waste from food production. In restaurants, large amounts of food waste are produced. The term waste from food production encompasses both food waste from the production of the food as well as food waste from food not eaten. Moreover, the waste may comprise packaging material from raw food ^¬ stuffs. The food waste from food not eaten is commonly sepa ^¬ rated during washing up.

For restaurants located a number of floors up in a building, there are goods lifts for transporting raw foodstuffs from a lower floor, such as a basement floor up to the restaurant in question .

It is becoming increasingly more common for restaurants to be located at one or several levels in tall buildings, such as in hotels, malls and office centers.

However, it is not allowed to transport food waste in such lifts, as these can contaminate fresh raw foodstuffs. There ^¬ fore, a special lift is required for transporting food waste to a level at which it can be gathered by for instance a garbage truck. To build and install a special lift for trans ^¬ porting food waste is costly. Also, such a lift must, for hygienic reasons, often be cleaned.

Hence, downwards transports of food waste constitute a prob ^¬ lem.

The present invention solves this problem. Hence, the present invention relates to a method for trans ^¬ porting food- and other waste from food production from a restaurant or a kitchen from a higher, first level in a building to a lower, second level in the building, at which the waste is collected for later removal, and is character ^¬ ized in that the waste in the restaurant or the kitchen is disintegrated in a mill located on the first floor, and is collected in a container in connection to and downstream of the mill, in that the waste in the container is sucked, under the influence of an underpressure, through a conduit running from the said first level to the said second level and to a collection tank.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a device of the type and with the main features as specified in claim 6.

Below, the invention is described in closer detail, partly in connection to an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the enclosed drawing, in which

- figure 1 shows a schematic sketch of a device for perform ^¬ ing the present invention.

In figure 1, a device is schematically shown for transporting food- and other waste from food production from a restaurant or a kitchen 1 from a higher, first 2, level in a building to a lower, second 3, level in the building, at which the waste is collected for later removal. The broken lines 2 and 3 illustrate two different levels, and the broken line 4 illus- trates intermediate levels.

According to the invention, the waste in the restaurant or the kitchen is disintegrated in a mill 5 located on the first 2 floor, and is collected in a container 6 in connection to and downstream of the mill 5. The reference number 14 denotes a conduit for this purpose. The reference number 7 illus ^¬ trates a bench for removing food not eaten and a bench for the preparation of food.

The waste in the container 6 is sucked, under the influence of an underpressure, through a conduit 8 running from the said first 2 level to the said second 3 level and to a col ^¬ lection tank 9.

For instance at certain time intervals, an underpressure is created in the collection tank 9, after which an inlet to the container is opened to let air into the container 6. It is preferred that the said container, conduit and collec ^¬ tion tank are caused to constitute a closed system.

In order to perform the disintegration, mills are known in which two parts with projections are arranged, wherein each one of the two parts have projections with a space between two adjacent projections, and where the parts are displaced in relation to the other, so that the projections of a first of the parts pass through the spaces of the other part. Such mills have strong engines, requiring a three phase electric connection.

However, such mills are so costly that an investment cannot be motivated for smaller catering kitchens, such as school kitchens and smaller restaurants.

It is known to disintegrate raw foodstuffs using kitchen appliances comprising a rotating cutting disc. These function on the principle that the cutting disc is arranged with an opening, at which a knife is mounted on the cutting disc. As the cutting disc rotates, the knife of the cutting disc cuts off a part of the raw foodstuff, which thereafter passes down through the opening in the cutting disc to a collection vessel. Such a kitchen appliance normally requires only a single phase electric connection.

In the Swedish patent no. 1251229-9, a modified kitchen appliance is disclosed with a rotating cutting disc, which is suitable for use in the present context.

According to a preferred embodiment, the said mill 5 is caused to disintegrate organic food waste occurring in the restaurant or kitchen, including bones and fishskin. According to another preferred embodiment, the said mill 5 is caused to disintegrate packaging material occurring in the restaurant or kitchen, made form paper, plastic and thin metals . Hereby, there is no need of, for instance, in a special lift transporting food waste, packaging material for raw foodstuffs, etc., down to a lower level.

According to an additional preferred embodiment, the disinte- grated waste is dewatered using a suitable known dewatering device 10 before the waste reaches the said collection tank 9.

In case a dewatering device 10 is used, a conduit 11 runs from the dewatering device to the collection tank 9 for transport of dewatered waste, and a water conduit 12 for the water to a sewer. When the waste in the collection tank 9 has reached a certain level, the waste is removed, as illustrated by arrow 13.

Through the invention, the need is eliminated for a special lift for transporting food waste down from the restaurant or kitchen located higher up in the building.

Above, the invention has been described schematically. Howev ^¬ er, it is apparent that a device according to the invention must be adapted to the prevalent conditions regarding pipe works and location of the collection tank.

Hence, the invention is not to be considered limited to the above described embodiments, but is variable within the scope of the enclosed claims.