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ProjectsComposting in the garden of England The object of this project, which has been ongoing since July 2009, was to provide an opportunity for local rural businesses to compost any organic waste which they may produce, on their own premises. It was hoped that in an age with increasing environmental awareness, not to mention increasing landfill charges, a business which sent volumes of organic waste to landfill would view this project as both environmentally friendly and money-saving. The project offered businesses in the KDM area the use of an adapted Keenan food mixer wagon, usually used on farms to mix cattle food. The organic waste from whatever source, and cardboard are mixed together inside the machine by means of a tractor-driven central paddle. This is the same system used by WyeCycle to process the food-waste collected from the villages of Wye and Brook. Businesses were contacted to see if they were interested in becoming part of the project. The type of business targeted were farm shops, cafés and restaurants, golf clubs; in fact, any business which may have been throwing organic or catering waste into their landfill bins. Interest in the scheme was considerable, although suitability for the composting option on offer was frequently an issue. Apart from requiring a certain volume of waste, the business needed to have sufficient land on which to site the composter, and to spread the resultant compost. They also needed to have access to a tractor. Every business which replied to the invitation was offered a waste audit. Labelled bins were provided for every conceivable waste stream, and staff were encouraged to separate their waste into these categories. At the end of a week, the various streams were weighed. This gave us the opportunity not only to ascertain how much organic waste was being produced, but also to look at other areas for waste reduction. One of the problems we identified, was that national encouragement to recycle effectively is lacking. Many businesses were tied in to a contract with their current waste collector, so the removal of organic waste and cardboard from the landfill bins would not have the immediate financial saving we had anticipated. Another issue was that farm shops are no longer operated by farmers, but are rented premises. The business owner was usually reluctant to approach their landlord with a request for land to site the composter, and the occasional use of a tractor to turn it. A couple of promising sites fell outside the KDM area. Businesses as far afield as Sittingbourne and Hamstreet were visited and audited. Neither of the two golf courses visited had tractors big enough to run the composter. A desire to turn catering waste into compost was evident from many smaller businesses and the local primary schools. The funders allowed us to purchase two small tumbler composters, and these were sited at the Elham Valley Vineyard and at the Singleton Environment Centre. The tumblers were of the kind with two chambers. One is filled and manually tumbled daily, and when full, the other is started and tumbling continues until that too is full. The semi composted material is then removed from the first chamber and put in a compost bin to mature. These were installed during December and are still in operation. Potten Farm in Sellindge were willing to host the Keenan composter in January 2010. The farm complex is home to four businesses; a nursery, farm shop, pet shop and florist, all producing a variety of organic waste and cardboard. This waste was put in the Keenan and turned when appropriate. The relative dryness of the mix caused by spent compost and cardboard meant that the mix required wetting to get the process to work. The nursery opted for filling tipping skips with their waste, which was chiefly compost and plant prunings, and loaded the composter in batches, lifting the skips with a forklift. Poor brakes on the forklift resulted in the re-siting of the Keenan and the rebuilding of the access steps. The anti bird cover, which was put in place to prevent birds from removing items, was found to be unnecessary as no food waste was put in to attract them, and it also got in the way of staff using the composter. Visits to the site, and maintenance were frequent and regular to hold interest in the project, and to alleviate problems quickly. Another scheme devised to maintain interest was that of a compost mixing trial. Following a minor operating problem, the semi-composted material was discharged from the machine, and stored to mature in a compost bin made of pallets. Three potting mixes were made of the sieved new compost; neat, 50:50 and equal parts peat, compost and sand. Courgettes, french beans and purple sprouting were sown in the mixes. Three coarser mixes of the same percentages were made for potting-on. This was by no means intended as a scientific study, but served as an illustration of the potential of the home-made compost, for circumstances where less land might be available for spreading. It did show however that the compost was nutrient rich, as no seeds survived in the neat mix. It was hoped that once the businesses had become used to using the Keenan, hopefully they would review their waste skip contracts when they came up for renewal, and we would be able to leave the composter in operation and use it as a demonstration site in the future. There was also the option for the purchase of their own Keenan. At the end of the project we held a press event at the site and a short video was made by Kent-on-Sunday and is available on their website and youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-4WUDdyDoM Although ended, the legacy of the project continues. The café at the Environment Centre is shortly to change hands, and the new owners are keen to continue with the tumbler, whilst the Keenan is available for other interested businesses. |
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