The Environmental
Technology Centre at Murdoch University is assisting St John of God
hospital move towards more sustainable waste management practices.
Like most places the SJOG organic wastes from its large kitchen go
into the mixed rubbish and then onto landfill. SJOG is already environmentally
minded, it runs the Greenhouse Challenge and Cleaner Production programs,
and now wants a better solution to its organic waste management.
ETC
has provided the hospital with a large prototype worm farm. This
is being slowly established with the support of kitchen, environment
and waste management staff at SJOG to reprocess the food scraps
by means of vermiculture. The worms will convert the scraps to "castings" an
excellent soil improver and plant fertiliser. The operation will
be assisted by the practical and commercial experience of ETC industry
partner Soil Life (formerly Vermibiologicals).
ETC will monitor
the unit's performance and seek to determine the maximum loading
rate
and ideal mix of food wastes and carbon sources such as cardboard
and shredded office paper generated by SJOG. It is thought that
the 8 m long x 2 m wide unit could eventually take up to 100kg/day
of
food and paper wastes once a maximum population of worms has
developed in several months time.
Ultimately the
aim of ETC is to understand
how technology such as this institutional-scale unit can be
optimised for maximum production. The aim of SJOG is to develop environmentally-sustainable
means of reducing its $11,000 pa waste bill and also start
preparing
itself for meeting the WA Government's goal of eliminating
waste to landfill by 2020. The project is a 12-month trial self-funded
by SJOG and ETC with the support of Soil Life.
L-R: Environment
Officer Helen Bucknell at the vermiculture unit, a
hand full of soil superheroes, SJOG
Waste Manager Alan with the food scraps previously sent to landfill.
