CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (USD $)	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Current Assets
Cash	$ 1,977,796	$ 2,043,593
Restricted cash and deposits	403,809
Accounts receivable	3,722,882	873,117
Inventory	447,736	408,747
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	188,226	81,850
Total current assets	6,740,449	3,407,307
Property and equipment, net	5,090,183	6,141,519
Patents, net	40,173	42,164
Deposits	22,035	22,598
Total assets	11,892,840	9,613,588
Current liabilities
Accounts payable	1,212,213	1,180,723
Accrued liabilities	941,911	1,163,504
Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts	188,679
Customer deposits	100,000
Convertible notes payable, net of discounts	1,128,700	370,561
Other notes payable	68,100
Related party notes payable	136,676	204,776
Warrant derivatives fair value	327,006	347,235
Financing obligations	120,083	49,299
Total current liabilities	4,223,368	3,316,098
Convertible notes payable, net of discounts		1,366,177
Related party notes payable		204,299
Other notes payable	170,249
Financing obligations	125,206	168,048
Restructuring reserve	94,259	119,184
Total Liabilities	4,613,082	5,173,806
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock	4,029,733	3,980,796
Commitments and contingencies (Note 16)
Equity (deficit) Ecosphere Technologies, Inc. stockholders' deficit
Common stock, $0.01 par value; 300,000,000 shares authorized; 149,092,684 and 146,262,357 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively	1,490,926	1,462,622
Common stock issuable, $0.01 par value; 71,959 issuable at June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively	720	720
Additional paid-in capital	106,808,730	104,804,159
Accumulated deficit	(116,654,812)	(117,576,896)
Total Ecosphere Technologies, Inc. stockholders' deficit	(8,354,436)	(11,309,395)
Noncontrolling interest in consolidated subsidiary	11,604,461	11,768,381
Total equity	3,250,025	458,986
Total liabilities, redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock and equity (deficit)	11,892,840	9,613,588
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock, Series A [Member]
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock	1,169,744	1,158,494
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock, Series B [Member]
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock
Redeemable convertible cumulative preferred stock	$ 2,859,989	$ 2,822,302