WRAP launch Welsh compost trials
WALES is to host a number of pioneering trials designed by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) to investigate the commercial potential for using BSI PAS 100 compost and anaerobic digestate in new landscape and brownfield regeneration projects.
Aimed at developing end-market use in the regeneration of quarries, opencast mines and landfill sites, the new trials will provide evidence to local authorities that the diversion of organic waste from landfill carries environmental and economic benefits.
It will also be the first time that anaerobic digestate –– a by-product of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process –– has been trialled by WRAP as a bio-fertilizer.
Starting this month, the trials are supported by WRAP and will be conducted by a number of partnership organizations, including David Jarvis Associates, Wardell Armstrong and the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
Both green compost (produced from garden wastes such as grass cuttings, prunings and leaves) and food-derived compost (processed household kitchen waste) produced to the BSI PAS 100 specification and WRAP’s Quality Protocol will be tested, as well as anaerobic digestate.
In one trial to be conducted by David Jarvis Associates and Professor Geoffrey Walton at Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine, near Merthyr Tydfil, anaerobic digestate will be used to help boost the redevelopment of native grassland and improve soil fertility.
Managing director, David Jarvis, explained: ‘In common with quality compost, anaerobic digestate is a rich source of nitrogen and phosphorous, making it potentially ideal for use as an organic fertilizer.
‘At Ffos-y-Fran, we’re expecting the application of the material to lead to accelerated plant growth and improved soil conditions. This could be of enormous significance for a number of industries, including mineral extraction where many quarries and mines have serious shortfalls of restoration materials.’
Lance Jones, organics project manager at WRAP Cymru, added: ‘The new trials will provide evidence to industrial end-users that the use of quality compost and digestate for restoration purposes not only closes the organics recycling loop, but is a practical and cost effective solution too.’
The trials are expected to report back during 2010 and 2011.