Mr Alexander said the compost industry and local authorities need to utilise the successful technologies already available rather than waiting for new ones.
“Composting is a well understood scientific process,” he said. “There are already plenty of great facilities around to take example from and we should make the most of these.”
He argued that local authorities were taking too long making decisions and evaluations and that they need to think and plan for the future. He said they would be forced to make last minute decisions concerning technologies and this is when problems occur, he added.
In the presentation, The Risks Inherent in Big Technology Solutions in Composting, the consultant suggested part of the reason that local authorities are delayed is that the wrong equipment is chosen.
He also said that consultants and engineers are not always “up-to-speed on composting technologies.”
He drew from his extensive experience in the US where bad technologies have been repeated at several compost plants with disastrous economic consequences. “The financial loses have amounted to more than $500 million in the US and that’s by no means all of them.”
“There needs to be more third party involvement between local authorities and the industry,” he said. And, “no more blind eyes to failures; we need to stick to the ones that we know work. Experience is design is everything when it comes to manufacturing composting facilities.”
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