| home |  |
compost explained | |
food waste | |
green waste | |
products | |
faq | |
shows & links | |
case studies | |
composters in use | |
news | |
contact us |
Composting is one of nature’s ways of reducing waste and creating an alternative form of food for other plants and animals.
Introduction
The need to recycle organic waste has been increasingly recognised in order to provide a useable material rather than a waste product and also to minimise the amount of organic waste that goes to landfill.
Whilst the Municipal authorities are trying to carry out this operation, the UK is still slipping well behind its obligations to reduce landfill to 85% of the 1998 figure by 2005 and particularly to reduce the amount by weight of biodegradable waste produced in 1995 to 50% of that figure.
The problem is exacerbated because the amount of waste is increasing annually by 3.0%.
The British Government has expressed concern that it is not able to reach its targets under the various protocols and is in considerable danger of following in the footsteps of Greece who has recently been fined several million Euro for non-compliance.
The UK will suffer fines of £1 million per week if we fail to reach the target by April 2005.
It is for this reason that all local authorities have been given landfill targets and councils over their allowance will be fined whilst those under can claim tax credits.
One way of improving the situation is to compost organic waste and councils are collecting organic waste and composting it to stop it from going to landfill.
Many are encouraging composting at domestic and industrial levels before it gets to the Municipal waste site and forming community composting organisations. Municipal composting has inherent difficulties in that it requires waste collections often from uninformed or sadly, uncaring sources and thus involves separation of undesirable materials, such as plastic, glass and metal – not to mention hypodermic needles. The difficulty in producing quality compost is great so that most of the time the end product can only be used for spreading on farm land.
It is therefore advantageous if composting can be carried out on a smaller scale, adjacent to where the organic waste arises and preferably where the waste producer has an interest in the composting process as they have a greater incentive to use waste, free from foreign objects.
The Rocket® - was developed to overcome the problems of making high quality compost on a domestic and small industrial scale and it was designed to ensure that all the seven requirements of good composting can be met.
| Composting reduces the demand for landfill sites. | Apart from being offensive and unsightly, especially for people living nearby, landfill sites are expensive and have to be paid for either by industry or local council taxpayers. They produce unpleasant odours despite the greatest efforts of the managers to avoid them and can release greenhouse gases like methane. | |
| Compost improves soil structure. | Both water holding capacity and fertility are improved by adding humus to sandy soil whilst heavy clay soils gain improved structure and porosity. | |
Compost Helps Suppress Disease. |
Various scientific studies show that the addition of helpful micro organisms present in the compost help plants to fight disease and some of the effects are quite dramatic. Work done at the University of California (1994-2000) highlighted the suppression of Brown Rot in Peaches, End Rot in Onions and Avocado Root Rot. | |
| Compost reduces the need for pesticides. | Tests have shown up to 90% reduction in whitefly and complete elimination of aphids and red spider mite and they believe it is because the compost activates natural plant repellents. | |
| Compost reduces the need for artificial fertilisers. | By providing natural growth promotion, NPK fertilisers are less necessary and in agriculture, the run off of fertilisers into water courses are also reduced and nutrients from compost are less likely to leach out. | |
| Compost reduces costs. | The need to purchase soil improvers, composts and artificial fertilisers is reduced. | |
| Compost suppresses weeds. | When used as a mulch, a layer of compost will help suppress weeds by reducing the amount of available light. Properly made compost will not contain weed seeds, but will also provide soil nutrients. Un-composted mulches e.g. woodchip or bark can reduce nitrogen levels in the soil and cause damage to plants, however compost used slightly before it is mature is extremely valuable for Vermiculture. | |
| Compost helps to preserve Peat stocks. | It is regularly reported that peat stocks are approaching extinction with current levels being down to 4%. Whatever the figure is, it is undoubtedly a finite resource and replacement products have been found wanting. In this regard, a ‘Gardening Which’ report (Jan/Feb 2001) shows germination of Impatiens (Busy Lizzies) seeds in peat free or reduced peat compost is down to a minimum of 30% compared to minimum 54% in peat based material. Correctly made naturally made compost does not suffer this deficiency. | |
| Compost enables organic horticulture. | Although there is a need to take care that no substances banned by the Soil Association are included in waste to be composted, properly made compost is the very basis of organic horti/agriculture. | |
| Compost can eliminate digging. | Compost used as mulch will be dragged into the soil by earthworms and this helps with soil aeration as well as providing the required nutrients and in shrubby borders it can remove the need to dig. | |
ACL can be contacted on 01260 222942 for a free demonstration and further details
Quick contact details
Please contact Huw Crampton on 01260 222942 or email huw@quickcompost.co.uk for enquiries within:
England - Bath, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cleveland/Teesside, Cornwall, County Durham, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Merseyside, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Tyne & Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
Wales - Mid Wales, North Wales, South Wales and West Wales.
Northern Ireland - Belfast, County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County Fermanagh, County Londonderry and County Tyrone.
Offshore counties - Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Orkneys and Shetland Isles.
Europe & The Rest of the World
Please contact Doug Boyle on 07780 610873 or email douglasboyle@hotmail.com for enquiries within:
Scotland - Angus & Dundee, Argyll, Ayrshire & Arran, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Edinburgh & the Lothians, Fife, Glasgow, Grampian, Highlands, Isle of Islay, Isle of Mull, Isle of Skye, Lanarkshire, Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Western Isles
Please contact Sam Wareing on 01260 222942 or email sam@quickcompost.co.uk for enquiries within:
Southern Ireland / Eire - Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.
|
|
|
|
|
Due to our policy of continuous development we reserve the right to change design and specifications without prior notice. Accelerated Compost Limited does not accept responsibility for any loss as a result of any company or person relying on material in this website, or for any mistakes or misprints. Although every care is taken to ensure accuracy, this site is a general guide only and specific technical advice is recommended before proceeding with any transaction. Specific fact sheets, or, technical information is available from Accelerated Compost Limited technical department on 01260 222942.
| © Accelerated Compost 2007 - Tel: 01260 222942 | Another site by TheWebSmiths |
