"Citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste

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Grelinette
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"Citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by Grelinette » 23/03/18, 12:44

Hello,

I open this topic separate from other discussions on the same topic because the issue is vast and topical. This subject is to be compared with that of moinsdewatt in which he reports that the CEO of Veolia says that: "Waste is the raw material of the XNUMXst century"...

There was the 12 last March in the PACA region a great day of information and meetings on the topic of composting bio-waste of urban origin. An article appeared in the March issue of 13 of the newspaper La Provence under the spring title " Composting flourishes thanks to the humus citizen " https://www.laprovence.com/article/edition-aix-pays-daix/4876562/le-compostage-fleurit-grace-a-lhumus-citoyen.html

I submit the following small text hoping that the question opens a constructive reflection, allows to imagine solutions, and ask more precise figures on the costs of recovery by composting locally. (see the numbers in the next paragraph, in blue).

"The Humus Citizen"

Today urban bio-waste, mainly food and vegetable waste from the population, canteens, restaurants, shops, green space companies and other local actors, are poorly managed and very little valued. There is still no separate sorting at the population level for leftover food, and wood and plants are to be deposited in bulk at the dump which is not very motivating when you have a simple bag of dead leaves, mowing lawn or a faded christmas tree easier to put in the garbage can at the corner of the neighborhood.
So, already at the beginning of the chain, the collection of bio-waste is not yet developed and a large part of this waste ends up in the bins and then in the incineration plant.

Yet the volumes are colossal, non-polluting, and easy enough to recycle by anaerobic digestion, cogeneration or composting and some precursors begin to study the problem.

For simplicity,

- on one side there is industrial who study global and large-scale solutions but with a local impact that is often negative: large truck traffic, pollution, installation of a treatment plant, depletion of local bio-resources to the detriment of other activities,

- on the other, there is some small local actors that offer local solutions and suggest converting these bio-wastes into compost to enrich local soils, especially as an alternative solution for farmers using chemical fertilizers.

It is to study and debate this issue that the 12 last March a day of " Regional Meeting of the PACA Compost Network Has been organized in Aix-en-Provence by some active associations on this subject (GESPER, GERES, Citizen Compost Network, Etc.).

We started to study a collection service of bio-waste, mainly food, on a commune of 10000 inhabitants. It varies greatly by city and region, butADEME assesses that the average amount of bio-waste (vegetable gold) is around 100 kg / year per inhabitant .

A common 10 000 hab. thus produces 1000 Tonnes / year (ie 19 T weekly), and at the end of the chain, one can evaluate a production of compost of 300 tons. It is also accepted that an average of 10 tons of compost per year can be disposed of on one hectare of land. (Quantity depending on the nature of the soil and the type of agricultural production).
The 300 tonnes of compost produced can therefore enrich some 30 hectares of land. (It's the earthworms that would be happy!)

Content trash.jpg
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The goal is to find effective solutions to collect some of this waste in order to produce compost that could be used locally by private individuals, shared gardens and local farms.

It is not a question of competing with industrial garbage collection trucks, but of testing local treatment solutions and evaluating the capacities of local self-recycling by composting. But first there is the question of the collection of waste from the population because of the regulation (approval), the organization, the logistics, the Metropolises (who have taken the competence of the waste management), and well sure the human and material cost of such a service, then, the cost of composting waste.

Today it is difficult to find a viable "business model" locally for this service because revenues hardly cover expenses (*), and there are few examples of profitable and autonomous local SMEs acting in this market.

(*) Some unavoidable figures: (to be corrected if you have more precise numbers)

- the collection of 1 ton of bio-waste is billed 100 € on average to producers (restaurant, supermarkets, canteens, etc.)
- 1 tons of bio-waste composted gives about 300 kg of compost, therefore one third of its initial mass (without taking into account negligible "additives" in terms of mass)
- The selling price Professional compost is around 30 € per ton. Do not forget that it takes about 3 T of bio-waste to get 1 T of compost, so in the end 1 T of bio-waste composted yields around 10 €
- You have to add some costs to sell this compost:
- Mandatory chemical analysis of compost to comply with the "standard", ie about 1000 € per year (cost depending on the number of pollutants measured)
- Added carbon for balance the compost in nitrogen / carbon : mainly adding "clean" wood chips.

In the end, collecting 1 tons of bio-waste yields, in the best case, 110 € turnover.
It remains to calculate the human and material costs for the collection of 1 T bio-waste
.


For the collection, it can be a voluntary act of the population who would deposit his bio-waste sorted in containers placed in neighborhoods such as paper, cardboard and glass, or come directly to a composting site municipality, or a collection service directly from the inhabitants.
For professionals (restaurants, canteens, shops, etc.) it is a priori a collection service "at the door" of the company.


There are many questions to ask yourself but what do you think and do you have ideas?
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by dede2002 » 24/03/18, 07:30

Grelinette wrote:
...
The 300 tonnes of compost produced can therefore enrich some 30 hectares of land. (It's the earthworms that would be happy!)

[/B]


Hello,

Earthworms do not feed on compost, but on undecomposed organic matter.

At the level of this calculation:
"1 ton of composted bio-waste gives around 300 kg of compost, so a third of its initial mass (without taking into account the negligible" additives "in terms of mass)
- The professional selling price of compost is around € 30 per tonne. Do not forget that it takes about 3 T of bio-waste to get 1 T of compost, so in the end 1 T of composted bio-waste brings in around 10 € "

I find another result: 1 t of compost is worth 30 euro, but cost 300 euro to collect (3 t of waste, trucks carry a lot of water), so a tonne of compost "costs" 270 euro ... ?

Where is the mistake?

A+ :)
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by sicetaitsimple » 24/03/18, 12:19

dede2002 wrote:
I find another result: 1 t of compost is worth 30 euro, but cost 300 euro to collect (3 t of waste, trucks carry a lot of water), so a tonne of compost "costs" 270 euro ... ?
Where is the mistake?


Yes, I think that's the way to think.

The collection and treatment of waste (including that of our household waste) are activities that have a cost to the community, whether paid directly by businesses or by local taxes, including garbage collection fee for household waste. individuals.

- cost of collection: trucks, fuel, wages of garbage collectors, .... (be careful when I speak "cost", I'm just trying to be factual, I don't blame garbage collectors for getting a salary!)
- cost of treatment: landfilling, sorting and recovery of material, incineration with or without energy recovery, methanisation of organic materials, composting, operating costs of waste disposal centers, ......

To these incurred costs come to evade some incomes, but these remain in general very marginal:

- material recovery (glass, paper / cardboard, plastics, compost, ...)
- energy recovery (sale of heat, electricity or gas).

It is of course on the reduction of the cost more than on the possible valuation of the products that a "different" mode of collection and treatment can find its place.

Note: I'm only talking about direct costs, I can say that I do not talk about externalities, it's perfectly accurate but if we want to get lost in a reasoning just start by talking about externalities.
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by Ahmed » 24/03/18, 12:47

I am particularly aware of the issue of green waste, which is very costly to the community, in terms of both landfill and transportation costs. The branches are mainly air (low density due to the elasticity and conformity of the branches) and water, so skips that do not carry much, in reality.
I was involved in a branch treatment project at the site of the recycling center, with the idea that what encumbers some would be a resource for others; unfortunately, it was quite complex if we take into account the investment, security and especially the operating logic which does not really "stick" with the administrative perception: the idea was therefore abandoned.
However, and this is true for other types of waste, what we have to do is, above all, to eliminate the concept of waste, which is an aberration: nature does not produce it. This could easily be done for green waste, as seen above, and for others, either by not producing what ultimately generates them, or by a design that takes into account this aspect of things.
However, segmentation of domains leaves little hope for this comprehensive approach.
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by sicetaitsimple » 24/03/18, 14:03

Yes, and yet green waste is not necessarily those which cost the community the most, because of the "voluntary" contributions to waste reception centers (the cost of transport is paid directly by the person who produces) and selective collections in urban areas. during the production season, collections generally "clean", in the sense not mixed with other products.

And recovery can be diversified (heating pads, BRF, compost) with a generally very local use.
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by Ahmed » 24/03/18, 18:12

I think that a very local treatment of green waste would be the best solution: this is what I personally practice and the energy cost of grinding is much lower than that of transport to the dump: this is one of the reasons * for my neighbors' enthusiasm!

* Another is the loss of time avoided; there is also the limitation of volume weekly: very often the size produces punctually large volumes and although the rest of the time there is no branches, the quantity that it is possible to evacuate is limited.
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by Did67 » 26/03/18, 18:01

Remember I still dream of a "phenoculture" model (the term is incorrect, therefore) consisting of separate collection of "fermentable biomasses" and "cold surface decomposition" ... to produce vegetables in a very short circuit (at the scale of a municipality) ...
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by Gaston » 26/03/18, 18:27

sicetaitsimple wrote:Yes, and yet green waste is not necessarily the most expensive for the community, due to the "voluntary" contributions to the recycling center (the cost of transport is paid directly by the producer)
It is still necessary to finance the transport of considerable volumes between the waste disposal centers and the potential recovery site (s).
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by dede2002 » 26/03/18, 19:26

Did67 wrote:Remember I still dream of a "phenoculture" model (the term is incorrect, therefore) consisting of separate collection of "fermentable biomasses" and "cold surface decomposition" ... to produce vegetables in a very short circuit (at the scale of a municipality) ...


In the grouping of communes around my home there is almost, the decomposition is done at the edge of the fields in big windrows which are then spread, one could directly spread on the field for a decomposition of surface, one would avoid the stage of the brewing windrows ...

https://acade-agro.ch/projets/gcbc/compostpanneau1.pdf
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Re: "The citizen's humus": Composting of urban bio-waste




by sicetaitsimple » 26/03/18, 22:09

Gaston wrote:
sicetaitsimple wrote:Yes, and yet green waste is not necessarily the most expensive for the community, due to the "voluntary" contributions to the recycling center (the cost of transport is paid directly by the producer)
It is still necessary to finance the transport of considerable volumes between the waste disposal centers and the potential recovery site (s).


Yes, of course, as for the rest of what is collected in waste disposal. But it is done by exchange of full / empty bins, it is still certainly more effective than a collection at home.
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