成人论坛

Everyone knows that composting is a Good Thing. But not everyone can be bothered to set up a compost heap.

Now mass composting has come to the south west of the county so householders no longer have to do it themselves.

It works like this.

Food Waste

You separate out your food waste which is then collected by the local council and sent to a special composting plant, known as an In Vessel Composting Facility (IVC) at Etwell near Derby.

This is run by Biffa. What happens there?

Smell

成人论坛 Leicester's Khush Sameja went to the facility and met Danny Todd the site manager who explained how things work.

The first stage of the process takes place in a reception hall into which the waste material is tipped for processing.

"The smell hits you," says Danny. "That's why the material is tipped in an enclosed reception building. The waste air can be treated and exhausted."

Onions

Khush saw kitchen and garden waste, Christmas trees and other material some of it in bio-degradable sacks.

The waste from Burbage and Lutterworth is kept separate.

Danny referred to the "distinctive smell of onions" but rhapsodised about the quality of the stuff that had been collected.

Disgusting

"It does look disgusting," he says. "But the quality is superb. It's just pure kitchen waste that will compost excellently.

"The level of contamination is very minimal. The material is very clean and extremely valuable for the composting process."

The material is then put into a computer controlled vessel or "tunnel". Here it is heated to 60 degrees and it remains at this temperature for 48 hours. This sterilises the waste.

Vessels

"Not much smell here," says Danny. "These are specially constructed vessels. Inside is very humid.

The treated material is then transferred to another vessel where the process is repeated.

Compost

The entire process takes 6 to 8 weeks and the resultant British Credited Compost is then sold.

Danny is extremely pleased to be involved in a pilot project with Lutterworth and Burbage.

He says, "We were quite willing to take the material on because it would benefit both of us, Biffa and Leicestershire."