From farm composting to robust composting plants in rural areas
About this good practice
In the 1980s, the province of Bolzano tried to solve the waste problem by building landfills and pre-treatment of municipal waste. Therefore, three central plants for composting of municipal waste were built. The objective was to save landfill volume and to produce waste compost, which could be used in agriculture.
The planned management of the waste in the plants did not work and so the plants had to be modified or closed very soon.
The first lesson was that a public administration should only use mature, robust systems for the treatment of waste. Secondly, a mix of de-centralised and centralised plants is needed for the treatment of organic waste.
In rural areas, a mix of home composting, farm windrow composting and regional composting plants should guarantee the treatment of organic waste.
This was then laid down and implemented in the 1999 update of the waste management plan.
The beginning of the introduction of a country-wide organic waste collection and the expansion of some existing plants into regional composting plants was the next step towards a functioning management of organic waste.
In the last 20 years, some of the farm-operated composting plants have been expanded into regional composting plants.
The composting process used is the open windrow composting with and without forced aeration. The compost produced today is of very good quality. In agriculture, the compost produced is preferably used as a soil conditioner.
Resources needed
All the plant are financed with public money. In fact, no individual benefits economically from waste disposal. Financing takes place through the province with waste tariffs and directly with the disposal costs paid by the municipalities per ton of waste.
Evidence of success
The knowledge gained from the beginnings of biowaste management led to a consistent continuation of the implementation of the waste management plans. The additional construction of a central anaerobic digestion plant made it possible to extend biowaste collection to urban centres, thus reducing the partial overloading of the composting plants. Thanks to this mix of plants, South Tyrol is now able to treat the whole bio-waste and the majority of green waste itself (60.000 tons per year).
Potential for learning or transfer
The experience that the Province of Bolzano has gained in the management of organic waste over a period of more than 30 years can be helpful for all authorities involved in the management of municipal waste.
It has been proven that a stepwise sensitisation of the population to the introduction of organic waste collection and the use of proven and robust recycling and treatment systems leads to sustainable organic waste management.