Edinburgh: Over the last few years, the Scottish Executive has invested in a composting service by farmers in the Scottish Borders to good effect.
The Executive granted the Borders Machinery Ring (BMR) and the Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology £38,438 in 2005-06 and £37,438 in 2006-07 for the development of the composting service.
Aims of the project were to deliver action in resource use, diverting biodegradable waste from landfill, provide a model which could be replicated in other regions of Scotland, and spread awareness to other machinery rings, according to the Executive.
Machinery Rings in Scotland are Co-operatives whose membership consists of local businesses and individuals.
The BMR, was the first Machinery Ring to be formed in the UK in February 1987. It was started by 23 farmers and contractors with the aim of rationalising labour, machinery and input costs. There are currently 9 Rings in Scotland and 15 in England and Wales, according to BMR.
Filling the Ecopods (Photo: Scottish Executive)
The Waste into Nutrients and Energy (WINE) project formed a network of on-farm and forestry sites across the Borders. WINE was to assist businesses to take advantage of emerging and proven technology to create compost and subsequently biofuel.
Local authorities were also to benefit in moving towards their waste strategy targets and rural income streams were to be aided by savings in costs and value enhancement of end-product(compost or energy).
The Ecopod system
Composting of green waste using the Ecopod system has worked successfully in America and other parts of Europe for a number of years. BMR saw this an opportunity for local composting with minimum investment or commitment from potential users as the machinery required was already owned by BMR members for agricultural activity.
The Ecopod system is an in-vessel composting operation using proven technology to fill long plastic bags (Ecopods) with compostable materials under controlled conditions – including aeration and monitoring. The process has evolved from around 20 years of experience with systems for agricultural feed storage.
As well as meetings with the regulator SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) and the local authority, BMR used Sistech (Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology) to assess markets and trends including the Lothian and Borders Waste Strategy. A meeting with interested parties followed to highlight the potential for on-farm composting as well as a subsequent workshop.
Initially sewage cake was to be the main income earner but regulation changes in December 2006 made this non-viable says BMR.
Stobs site
The first composting site was found on a farm at Stobs – near Hawick - with hard surfaces, easy access and room for expansion and this was linked with a local contractor with Ecopod machinery with the capacity to enter the composting market.
In 2006 a joint venture was established for the Stobs site, followed by obtaining the necessary permits and legal advice confirmed that this model could be replicated at other sites.
Learning from experience on the first site and other composting sites, BMR established a second site in March 2007 for the eastern Borders.
In June 2007, 300 tonnes of Council kerbside collected green waste from the Hawick area were secured for the Stobs site in addition to small loads of wood waste from local building companies and tradesmen, and other supplies of compostable materials from growing awareness of the project in the area.
To ensure controlled conditions data monitors were acquired by BMR to keep a check on pod temperatures. Also fans to regulate airflow into the pod and a small wind turbine to power the fans - Stobs being a remote site with no power supply – were necessary.
BMR marketed the web site through its website and newsletter in order to build a database of interested farmers for supply of raw materials or for a future compost site. Publicity also identified customers wanting to buy the finished product.
Post project period
The project period has now ended but BMR held a presentation to councillors at the Stobs composting site in October 2007. In Autumn 2007 a skip hire business near Duns approached with a wood waste problem that was resolved with a 40% diversion of this material from landfill through treatment at the second composting site at Shoreswood.
Negotiations also resulted in a Borders factory sending 80 large skips of wood waste per year to the Stobs site.
The increasing quantities of material being processed meant that the use of an exemption from waste management licensing could not continue and a full waste management licence was obtained. An added benefit was that this allowed the site to deal with food waste - essential for local authorities switching to combined green and food collections.
Two years on, the WINE project has firm foundations for future expansion. The knowledge and experience obtained and flexibility of the project, should allow easy replication to other regions of Scotland, according to the Scottish Executive.
Further information
The Borders Machinery Ring web site can be found at http://www.ringleader.co.uk/ .