Composting and Recycling

Compost Area
• Place to process all the biodegradable waste of the farm
• What comes from the earth can go back to the earth
• Leaves, branches, etc are gathered and shredded by a shredder before being stacked in compost bins
• Shredded materials in bins made moist by sprinkling (as much as possible from biodigester) while stacking or alternating shredded materials with chopped banana trunk
• Sign of good moisture is one drop of water when a handful of composting material is squeezed
• Composting takes over a month if not periodically over tuned; if overturned every two to three days compost will be ready in two weeks
• Compost balances soil pH
• In CELL compost is used for vermin culture, mulch and soil

Biodigester and Pump
• Biodigester is the technology that processes human waste so that it becomes life-giving
• After process, waste becomes a source of organic fertilizer, cooking gas (methane) and water for plants
• Process:
• Waste fro toilets in the dorm, Brendan Hall and the guest house are centralized in the biodigester waste undergoes anaerobic (no oxygen) processing with the help of bacteria producing methane and fertilizer
• Methane can be for cooking
• Fertilizer harvested every year; fertilizer used in farm
• Liquid waste from toilet also called black water; undergoes filtration fro the first compartment until the pump; high in nitrogen so it can only be used by plants

Materials Recovery Facility-MR/Storage Area (Under Brendan Hall)
• Area for processing non-biodegradable wastes result or zero-waste management in CELL
• No waste going to dumpsite; we manage all our wastes
• Reduction, segregation, composting (if biodegradable), recycling and reusing (if non-biodegradable), storing (if cannot be recycled or reused)
• 70% of waste at the household level is biodegradable, 20% is recyclable or reusable, 10% is residuals

Compost worms
• Natural catalyzer of composting process of biodegradables
• Produce topsoil (vermicast)
• Enhance chemical composition of vermicast: P, K,N
• Proportion of waste material to worms is 5 kg material to 500 worms (0.5 kg); duration is one month for material to be converted to vermicast
• After one month, worms separated from vermicast
• Vermicast kept for 30 days for eggs to hatch then separate worms again
• Vermicast is then dried
• Water/drippings from vermiculture very good feather; 1:4 proportion of drippings to water