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Drought Precautions for Composters
Overview
As you may know much of the UK is now either officially in a drought or almost certainly will soon be in drought. One of the consequences of this will be that the use of water will be restricted. However composters need water, without adequate moisture the composting process will slow down. Restrictions could therefore seriously affect compost producers.
Alternative Sources of Water
How can operators reduce their need for water and maintain the quality and quantity of throughput. One piece of advice from DEFRA which is aimed at domestic water users is to use grey water for non-hygiene related uses. Is it possible for composters to apply this logic? Composters should consider recovering leachate that has run out of windrows and re-circulating this through the windrows to supply both moisture and nutrients back into the composting process.
As you may know much of the UK is now either officially in a drought or almost certainly will soon be in drought. One of the consequences of this will be that the use of water will be restricted. However composters need water, without adequate moisture the composting process will slow down. Restrictions could therefore seriously affect compost producers.
Alternative Sources of Water
How can operators reduce their need for water and maintain the quality and quantity of throughput. One piece of advice from DEFRA which is aimed at domestic water users is to use grey water for non-hygiene related uses. Is it possible for composters to apply this logic? Composters should consider recovering leachate that has run out of windrows and re-circulating this through the windrows to supply both moisture and nutrients back into the composting process.
Permit Variations
Since it is now illegal to dispose of liquid wastes to landfill it may be possible to find local producers of suitable liquid wastes and use these to irrigate the windrows. It should be considered that as charges for the processing and disposal of effluent from many industrial premises are based on the Modified Mogden Formula, composters who are able to collect effluent may actually be saving the producers money on effluent disposal charges. If liquid waste can be used it may be necessary to obtain a variation to the sites permit to enable it to receive these liquid wastes. You should also consider that the composition of liquid waste may affect the final chemical content of the compost.
Since it is now illegal to dispose of liquid wastes to landfill it may be possible to find local producers of suitable liquid wastes and use these to irrigate the windrows. It should be considered that as charges for the processing and disposal of effluent from many industrial premises are based on the Modified Mogden Formula, composters who are able to collect effluent may actually be saving the producers money on effluent disposal charges. If liquid waste can be used it may be necessary to obtain a variation to the sites permit to enable it to receive these liquid wastes. You should also consider that the composition of liquid waste may affect the final chemical content of the compost.
Process Operation
The design of windrows will also influence the amount of evaporation. Whilst covering windrows with impermeable sheeting will prevent evaporation it will also inhibit the composting process. However increasing the size of windrows will modify the ratio of the surface area to overall mass and therefore should reduce the amount of evaporation.
Click HERE to visit the DEFRA Drought website
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