Title
Waste to value
Duration
1 April 2020 / 1 February 2021
VIDA Challenges
Sustainable agriculture and efficient greenhouse management
Summary
This project focuses on circular bioecology between the generated organic waste in cities and the demand for biofertilizer in green house food production and farmland. Today, green house food production requires between 60-120kg nutrients per hectare per year. These are nutrients transferred to cities as food. Residues or by products are disposed off unsustainably in landfills or incinerated, thus causing loss of valuable nutrients and environmental pollution.
The aim of this project is to demonstrate how Transform af 1994 ApS’ s Biotechnology can recirculate agriculture nutrients into the food value chain, by converting organic waste and sludge to biofertilizer using a biological process, where the organic substances in waste are degraded with the application of air (aerobic), to achieve an effective decomposition into loam.
The compost can be used in farmland and greenhouse food production in place of fertilizer enriched peat due, to its controlling effect on plant fungal diseases on a number of plants and also helps plants to retain water for a longer period of time.
In addition, it reduces the need for spraying pesticides in Agri- and horticulture, thus supporting farmers in their efforts to meet environmental and climate goals, at the same time saving them money and setting conditions for sustainable food production.
The biofertilizer production High Heating Compositing technology is developed and tested in Denmark Germany and Uganda, on garbage, sludge and crushed garden waste. Control of results in agriculture and green houses, has been done by the local owners and by Makerere University in Uganda.
In practice, they have experienced a cost reduction of 30%-50% of fertilizers, 80% -90% in pest reduction, 10% – 20% increase in yields compared to the use of chemical fertilizer.
As food and agriculture requires adequate water, Transform af 1994 ApS designed a wastewater and sludge treatment technology to convert wastewater in to safe affluent that can be returned to the water cycle with minimum impact on the environment or mixed with the organic waste to produce high quality biofertilizer that can retain water for a longer period of time compared to the synthetic fertilizer.
This project offers numerous social benefits to both small and large scale farmers who want to practice sustainable agriculture and communities who want fresh, healthy, locally produced food. In addition, it addresses the demand for rising food security and the issues such as high cost and high constant reliance on the chemical fertilizer for agriculture that have restrained the growth of organic fertilizer market.
The High Heat compositing technology will support farmers associations that invest in organic farms to help secure farmland and build organic local food systems for ongoing food production.
Partners
Transform af 1994 Aps -Danish Rootzone Technology
www.rootzone.dk
Danvan A/S
www.danvan.dk
CIBID Group A/S
www.cibidgroup.com
Agrocares
www.agrocares.com
Social Media/Hashtags
#SludgeManagement, #MunicipalOrganicWaste, #OrganicFarming, #GreenhouseFoodProduction, #SustainableTechnology