Speaking to letsreycle.com today, Charlie Trousdell, managing director at TJ Composting Group Ltd revealed he was initially cynical about the effectiveness of odour-eliminators. But he has been “amazed” that they have made such a “huge difference” not only to the odour but also in speeding up the composting processs.
 A tank full of biosa fitted to a compost turner to deliver the product into green waste being processed |
TJ composting has been trialing two products – New Era Biosa, an additive developed in Denmark which is sprayed onto the compost, and EM products (Effective Micro-organisms) a liquid mixture developed in Japan.
Speaking about New Era Biosa Mr Trousdell said: “The product has made a significant difference – it is very successful in deodorizing the compost very quickly and it eliminates odour at source, it speeds up biodegradable processes and encourages the microbes to work more effectively.
“Another benefit is that it breaks down the carbon quality more readily and produces a better quality of compost,” he added.
TJ Composting had received complaints about the odour of its green waste processing operations earlier in the year, but Mr Trousdell said there haven't been any complaints since the firm started using both EM and New Era Biosa.
He estimated that the products have cut down the composting process timescale by 10 days. However he was keen to say that this is based on observation, not formal testing.
AERC
Last week, The Composting Company, which supplies the New Era Biosa to TJ Composting, revealed that the product had undergone trials conducted by Applied Environmental Research Centre (AERC) and the results were confirmed that the product reduces odours, reduces amount of turns on the windrow and also helps speed production time by up to 25%.
In terms of the impact on the composting industry, for whom odour is a continuous issue, Mr Trousdell said: “These types of products are a good way of alleviating any problems which people may have and will probably end up saving you money from reduced windrow turns and produce your compost possibly more quickly.”
However, he warned that composters still needed to operate a “sound practice”, as having a good odour eliminating product was not all needed to make good compost.
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