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Composting
Industrial composting is a similar process to the composting which is carried out by many people in their back garden. It is the process of natural decomposition of waste, which is composting facilities, is accelerated by using modern composting vessels.
The process if composting is simple. Organic waste is loaded into the vessel where it is left to decompose through its natural biological process. It is accelerated by adding heat to the waste. It takes a minimum of 14 days for a composting vessel to convert its organic waste into compost, often far longer than this.
Because it relies on the naturally occurring decomposition of the waste it is unable to effectively handle packaging waste. Recent developments to package foods in protein or starch based packaging has meant that it can be composted, but it significantly increases the decomposition time of the waste.
What remains after the process is a stable material which is more often than not sent to land. Effectively meaning it becomes land filling on top of the land instead of in a hole in the ground. In the UK compost is often used to cap landfill sites prior to closure in order to provide a reasonable quality top surface to the site.
In the UK composting is often viewed as the most environmentally friendly option for disposing of food waste. This however is a common misconception. Although it is more green than incineration it does produce vast quantities of methane gas, one of the most harmful greenhouse gases. In some of the more modern composting facilities some of this gas is used in energy recovery systems, but in most cases it is simply vented to the atmosphere. This is far from ideal as methane is surprisingly more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
In more recent times the development of household food waste collection schemes has led to increased demand for composting facilities and this method of disposal is frequently publicised as being the best environmental option for handling organic waste. This is not the case as it rarely makes use of the energy value contained within the waste. Much of this waste would be far better directed to processing methods which generate a useable fuel as a by product which can then be utilised for energy creation, such as the Inetec process.
This is not to say that composting doesn’t have a place within the recycling and processing market. It is an excellent solution for vegetable food waste which has high moisture content and little energy value when compared to man made foods. it should not be shelved as a process, merely honed to ensure that waste which provides little energy is composted while other more valuable sources of energy are directed to more efficient means of disposal where the by-products can actively be used to create energy.