In-Vessel Composter - Wednesday 24th September
Members of the Oxfordshire Community Action Groups were invited on a fact-finding mission to a new ‘in vessel' (or ‘enclosed') composting site in Dorset on 24th September 2008. New Earth Solutions has developed a range of processes for the biological treatment of commercial and municipal wastes.
Everyone found it to be a really useful visit and gained an invaluable insight into how an in-vessel facility operates. Various options for waste were discussed as well as issues to consider when rolling out a food waste collection service, something that is planned for Oxfordshire in early 2009. A tour of the Dorset facility had been planned to help CAG members understand the principles of food waste treatment in preparation for the new service. This also followed the CAG food waste network event at Barracks Lane Community Garden when Bronwen Jameson from WRAP explaining about WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste Campaign and the importance of reducing food waste.
Commercial Director Peter Mills, who showed the group around, has had experience in various sectors of the waste industry - from landfill and incineration through to recycling. He was very strongly of the opinion that recycling is the way forward and that In Vessel composting can help to recover as much value from waste as possible. It was estimated that up to 80% of residual waste could be recovered using this method.
New Earth Solutions accept two different waste streams at their site in Dorset. The first is separated organic waste (green waste, food waste, cardboard) from municipal collections in the surrounding area. This waste is all composted in the composting halls under controlled conditions for around 6 weeks using a highly automated process. Three fundamental elements are used to create the compost: aeration, irrigation and agitation. The final product is of high quality and sold to local farmers as a fertilizer and soil improver.
The second waste stream that arrives at New Earth Solutions is residual waste - ie: anything that people throw away in a bin bag. This waste is kept completely separate from the green waste collections. As many recyclable products as possible are extracted using a mechanical process - this can capture items such as plastics, glass, ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Any organic waste is removed and composted using the same composting process but kept separate as it is not as ‘clean' a product. The resulting compost is used on ‘brownfield' sites. Anything unrecyclable and uncompostable still has to be sent to landfill.
CAG members found the visit a very encouraging experience and felt that New Earth Solutions was a business employing joined-up thinking and long-term strategies to treat waste as a resource. New Earth Soluitions were very welcoming and actively encourage groups to come and visit and see how they do things. For more details visit www.newearthsolutions.co.uk
To link to a report of the event by Emma Cooper who was part of the group press here.